Hello Everyone!!
Well it has been several weeks now and we and the McQuillens are finally getting settled in. My mom recently made it back to Wichita. We loved having her here why we got settled in, and she added so much to our trip. She also was able to work some in the school and with the HIV orphans.
It hasn’t been an easy trip as many of you know. It has been more taxing then Shea and I’s Kenyan trip 4 years ago. I think the 2 kids under 2 may have something to do with that. But we are starting to get accustomed to the lack of electricity and water much of the time. We are also getting used to cooking food from scratch, and planning meals well in advance.
We have asked ourselves many times over the last several weeks why we are here, but we both know this is where God wants us. He always provides us with just what we need (often not much more), and we have become quite thankful for little things. Like a nice cold shower at the end of the day to cool us off, a drink of cold clean water, and a nice freshly prepared chicken with all of the fixin’s. We’ve enjoyed sitting around our dark, hot room at night as Paul reads us stories from Wendell Berry’s: That Distant Land by flashlight. Or our morning devotionals as the Shona sing in accapella with their heavenly voices.
The medicine has also become more enjoyable. It is quite different then back home, and we realize more every day how lucky we are to have all of our resources we do in the US. Paul, Shea and I have been busy in the hospital wards, operating room, and clinic/triage rooms. We have performed C-sections, many other surgeries, and have seen many unusual illnesses. I look forward to sharing with you, some of the more interesting medical cases in the future
The poverty here is amazing and I am continuously reminded of the abundance we have, even here at Karanda. We actually have a freezer full of meat and water that runs most of the time…so we really can’t complain.
Beau and Gracie our adapting very well. It took about 7-10 days for them to get over jet lag, but they are now doing great. Beau spends most of his day running around with only a diaper(cloth of course), shoes and his brace. I think he would explore the whole country side if we'd let him. He's walking and running better all the time. I think the heat bothers us alot more then it does them. Gracie just rolled over several days ago, and she is smiling and chating with anyone that will listen (but of course her brother is always quick to steal back the attention).
I just thank all of you for your continued prayers, and ask that you keep them coming, as we probably have many challenges ahead of us. Up until now, no one has been really sick. We keep the kids under bed nets at night. And we all are faithfully taking are prophylaxis to keep them from getting malaria, as the malaria season is in full swing. Just continue praying that no major illness attack our family, and that the political climate here in Zimbabwe remain stable.
Before I go, I wanted to leave with you all with a top 10 list of things to remember when traveling with small children to Africa. These are just some of our funny memories, and lessons we learned the hard way through our first several weeks of traveling together with the McQuillens. Unfortunately for us there is actually more then 10……Oh well.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!!!!
Top 10 things to remember when traveling with small children to or in Africa!!! (No particular order)
1) Do not vomit more then 10 times on South African Air or the pilot will ask you to deboard the plane in Senegal (a muslim developing country) to receive proper(yeah right) medical care. (Unfortunately this happened to my mom)
2) Make sure your travel agent gives you more then 2 hours between connecting flights before you 18 hour flight, or you might find yourself sprinting in the airport, with a screaming 2 year old, a backpack, 2 over the shoulder carryons, and a roll behind carryon with a car seat strapped to it. (it wasn’t a good way to start the 18 hour flightJJ)
3) Make sure you never bring car seats, you will just end up carrying them through every airport on your back and never get to use them, as no vehicles actually have seat belts here in Africa.(I just wanted to burn those things)
4) Don’t bring a backpack that you hope your toddler can carry, as you will just end up carrying your toddler and his backpack, and all the toys that keep falling out of the pouches.
5) Make sure your travel agent checks all your bag through from your original destination to your final destination or in your short 2 hour layover you will be forced to carry all 15 checked bags, 14 carry-ons, 2 strollers(one we never got), and 2 car seats(remember we had 5 adults and 3 kids, but my poor mom couldnt carry much with her bad back) from the baggage claim back up to the check in desk. Then rewrap all of your bags with seran wrap, and duck tape(to keep people in South Africa from stealing your stuff), and start sprinting to catch your flight(see #2)
6) Don’t start using cloth diapers for the first time when you don’t have power or water…I think this one speaks for itself.
7) Don’t expect just because you tell your kids “night night” that they will just go to bed and stay in bed after traveling for 29 hours half-way across the world. Or any night for the next week!
8) Don’t go to Africa and live 3 hours from the nearest grocery store. Or as you’ll find out your chicken/meat will go bad, unless you adapt your deep freeze. You’ll be forced to fill old containers with water to make blocks of ice, wrap your food in paper, and put sleeping bags and blankets around your deep freeze….since the power may go out for days at a time.(remember no going back to town for 1 month…..maybe we should have thought harder about this whole trip JJ)
9) Don’t expect that you and your son will get a seat in the vehicle that takes you across Zimbabwe when your driving 3 hours on hot, pot hole filled roads. You’ll probably just end up in the back of the truck wedged between the luggage. You could always tell your son that this is an African Disney ride that lasts 3 hours…..Man we’re lucky!!!!
10) Unless your crazy (like literally taking antipsychotic medicine) don’t travel with small to kids to Africa!!!!(That’s the moral of the story)
Ok here is a few others that didn’t make the top 10 list, but still good:
-Don’t just let your kid start playing with strange bugs
-Don’t just give your kid a bunch of milk that was sitting in the fridge for who knows how long(no matter how bad he wants it)….or you might just end up with projectile vomiting all over your room, and no water or power to clean up with…that room still stinks!!
-Make sure your travel agent books your wife and 2 kids in the same row on your 18 hour flight, and not 3 rows back.(starting to notice a travel agent theme here) Its very important to double team the kids whenever possible on a long flight.
-Don’t sit behind someone on your 18 hour transatlantic flight that doesn’t like kids, or your kid may end up kicking his seat the whole, and this kind of makes life miserable for you.
-Don’t bring more carry-ons/kids then both of you can bring on to the plane at one time, the airline industry really doesn’t take kindly to people going back and forth off the plane just to get more stuff.
-Don’t assume that just because you sleep under a mosquito net that you’ll be free from getting mosquito bites, that is unless you checked under your nets for mosquitos first. Otherwise you just trapped them all in with you for a nice full night of feasting on your blood, and trying to give you malaria.
-Don’t assume that just because you checked your brand new $500 stroller at the gate in Washington DC that it will be waiting for you when you land in Johannesburg. (I mean where could it go, it was supposed to go right on the plane with us……Wishful thinking, maybe someday it will turn up)
OK….OK I think that’s enough for now, but stay tuned I’m sure this list will continue to grow before its all said and done. The Lord really has blessed us, and we are very thankful to be getting settled in. We thank you for your prayers.
Well it has been several weeks now and we and the McQuillens are finally getting settled in. My mom recently made it back to Wichita. We loved having her here why we got settled in, and she added so much to our trip. She also was able to work some in the school and with the HIV orphans.
It hasn’t been an easy trip as many of you know. It has been more taxing then Shea and I’s Kenyan trip 4 years ago. I think the 2 kids under 2 may have something to do with that. But we are starting to get accustomed to the lack of electricity and water much of the time. We are also getting used to cooking food from scratch, and planning meals well in advance.
We have asked ourselves many times over the last several weeks why we are here, but we both know this is where God wants us. He always provides us with just what we need (often not much more), and we have become quite thankful for little things. Like a nice cold shower at the end of the day to cool us off, a drink of cold clean water, and a nice freshly prepared chicken with all of the fixin’s. We’ve enjoyed sitting around our dark, hot room at night as Paul reads us stories from Wendell Berry’s: That Distant Land by flashlight. Or our morning devotionals as the Shona sing in accapella with their heavenly voices.
The medicine has also become more enjoyable. It is quite different then back home, and we realize more every day how lucky we are to have all of our resources we do in the US. Paul, Shea and I have been busy in the hospital wards, operating room, and clinic/triage rooms. We have performed C-sections, many other surgeries, and have seen many unusual illnesses. I look forward to sharing with you, some of the more interesting medical cases in the future
The poverty here is amazing and I am continuously reminded of the abundance we have, even here at Karanda. We actually have a freezer full of meat and water that runs most of the time…so we really can’t complain.
Beau and Gracie our adapting very well. It took about 7-10 days for them to get over jet lag, but they are now doing great. Beau spends most of his day running around with only a diaper(cloth of course), shoes and his brace. I think he would explore the whole country side if we'd let him. He's walking and running better all the time. I think the heat bothers us alot more then it does them. Gracie just rolled over several days ago, and she is smiling and chating with anyone that will listen (but of course her brother is always quick to steal back the attention).
I just thank all of you for your continued prayers, and ask that you keep them coming, as we probably have many challenges ahead of us. Up until now, no one has been really sick. We keep the kids under bed nets at night. And we all are faithfully taking are prophylaxis to keep them from getting malaria, as the malaria season is in full swing. Just continue praying that no major illness attack our family, and that the political climate here in Zimbabwe remain stable.
Before I go, I wanted to leave with you all with a top 10 list of things to remember when traveling with small children to Africa. These are just some of our funny memories, and lessons we learned the hard way through our first several weeks of traveling together with the McQuillens. Unfortunately for us there is actually more then 10……Oh well.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!!!!
Top 10 things to remember when traveling with small children to or in Africa!!! (No particular order)
1) Do not vomit more then 10 times on South African Air or the pilot will ask you to deboard the plane in Senegal (a muslim developing country) to receive proper(yeah right) medical care. (Unfortunately this happened to my mom)
2) Make sure your travel agent gives you more then 2 hours between connecting flights before you 18 hour flight, or you might find yourself sprinting in the airport, with a screaming 2 year old, a backpack, 2 over the shoulder carryons, and a roll behind carryon with a car seat strapped to it. (it wasn’t a good way to start the 18 hour flightJJ)
3) Make sure you never bring car seats, you will just end up carrying them through every airport on your back and never get to use them, as no vehicles actually have seat belts here in Africa.(I just wanted to burn those things)
4) Don’t bring a backpack that you hope your toddler can carry, as you will just end up carrying your toddler and his backpack, and all the toys that keep falling out of the pouches.
5) Make sure your travel agent checks all your bag through from your original destination to your final destination or in your short 2 hour layover you will be forced to carry all 15 checked bags, 14 carry-ons, 2 strollers(one we never got), and 2 car seats(remember we had 5 adults and 3 kids, but my poor mom couldnt carry much with her bad back) from the baggage claim back up to the check in desk. Then rewrap all of your bags with seran wrap, and duck tape(to keep people in South Africa from stealing your stuff), and start sprinting to catch your flight(see #2)
6) Don’t start using cloth diapers for the first time when you don’t have power or water…I think this one speaks for itself.
7) Don’t expect just because you tell your kids “night night” that they will just go to bed and stay in bed after traveling for 29 hours half-way across the world. Or any night for the next week!
8) Don’t go to Africa and live 3 hours from the nearest grocery store. Or as you’ll find out your chicken/meat will go bad, unless you adapt your deep freeze. You’ll be forced to fill old containers with water to make blocks of ice, wrap your food in paper, and put sleeping bags and blankets around your deep freeze….since the power may go out for days at a time.(remember no going back to town for 1 month…..maybe we should have thought harder about this whole trip JJ)
9) Don’t expect that you and your son will get a seat in the vehicle that takes you across Zimbabwe when your driving 3 hours on hot, pot hole filled roads. You’ll probably just end up in the back of the truck wedged between the luggage. You could always tell your son that this is an African Disney ride that lasts 3 hours…..Man we’re lucky!!!!
10) Unless your crazy (like literally taking antipsychotic medicine) don’t travel with small to kids to Africa!!!!(That’s the moral of the story)
Ok here is a few others that didn’t make the top 10 list, but still good:
-Don’t just let your kid start playing with strange bugs
-Don’t just give your kid a bunch of milk that was sitting in the fridge for who knows how long(no matter how bad he wants it)….or you might just end up with projectile vomiting all over your room, and no water or power to clean up with…that room still stinks!!
-Make sure your travel agent books your wife and 2 kids in the same row on your 18 hour flight, and not 3 rows back.(starting to notice a travel agent theme here) Its very important to double team the kids whenever possible on a long flight.
-Don’t sit behind someone on your 18 hour transatlantic flight that doesn’t like kids, or your kid may end up kicking his seat the whole, and this kind of makes life miserable for you.
-Don’t bring more carry-ons/kids then both of you can bring on to the plane at one time, the airline industry really doesn’t take kindly to people going back and forth off the plane just to get more stuff.
-Don’t assume that just because you sleep under a mosquito net that you’ll be free from getting mosquito bites, that is unless you checked under your nets for mosquitos first. Otherwise you just trapped them all in with you for a nice full night of feasting on your blood, and trying to give you malaria.
-Don’t assume that just because you checked your brand new $500 stroller at the gate in Washington DC that it will be waiting for you when you land in Johannesburg. (I mean where could it go, it was supposed to go right on the plane with us……Wishful thinking, maybe someday it will turn up)
OK….OK I think that’s enough for now, but stay tuned I’m sure this list will continue to grow before its all said and done. The Lord really has blessed us, and we are very thankful to be getting settled in. We thank you for your prayers.
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