Serengeti Trip

Hi all- Hope everyone is doing well!!! I'm having a blast. It seems that we are getting to internet more often which is nice. I haven't written yet about our trip to the Serengeti even though it was about a week ago. We started our day VERY early...5am and made it to there by 7:30am. WE had a successful trip according to our guide because we saw not only the hyena's, gazelle's, wildebeasts & baboons, but we were able to see the more rare animals like elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippos & lions. AMAZING. WE never saw a cheetah (sorry Megs...) but we were so excited to see all the rest. We stopped for lunch and later stopped at a resort (for $800 a night) for a soda. Some of the group bought souvenirs at the gift shop and then we headed home. It was a great experience for all.

Mom & Dad

FYI: I got a cell phone- I'll text you the number. Mom- talk to Henry if you can because I can't open HH email over here...I know it's not full because it won't even let me sign-in. I'm going to try to create a hotmail account in the meantime. Everything's great- the HH group left this morning and all went well.
I'll call soon. Love you, Sarah:)

Village Meals

Village Meals: Once in a lifetime experience!!! WE spilt into 3 groups and were dropped off by Chris, introduced and spent the next few hours completely immersed. Besides the obvious language barrier (that the group is trying to learn), all of us were out of our comfort zones. We ate in a room that only fit 5 people in a mud hut. The custom is to eat EVERYTHING that is given to you until you can't stuff anything more in. Chris had prearranged the houses and even provided food for the 3 families- so we knew what we would be eating. Our meals were rice, beans, mandazi (bread), chai tea, our own water and then duck, chicken and goat. I've never been so full in my life...some of you are saying YEAH RIGHT! Well, they were so welcoming and honored to have us in their homes. They washed out hands before and after dinner and Chris says we were lucky to have plates- normally they all eat of the same serving platter. Side note: there was a grandmother guarding the door were we ate - beating off chickens and ducks that wanted to join us...wow! After finishing dinner...which was a big feat...we had an African dance party outside the house around a lantern. Then each family (entourage) thanked us for coming profusely. WE were a spectacle to say the least and crowds gathered everywhere. When we all got home- it was so much fun to talk about the experience and although that was not anywhere close to our normal dining experiences over here- the group was excited to have had that experience.
PS- Many pictures were taken of that one!!!

The orphanage

JBFC- There are 8 girls currently staying in the house next to us. The range in age from 6-14 years old and all have different backgrounds as to why they are there. We love spending every moment with them- eating, playing, working, singing and praying. They speak little English but we have been teaching them common words and vice-versa. They have taught us lots of African games to play at night before we go to bed. The first Saturday we were here was Children of Africa day and we had a birthday party for all of them. We had a lunch celebration and baked cakes and gave them presents. They each got a bag full of gifts they wear and use everyday. It was an amazing expereince how grateful they were and tears filled all of our eyes! We got the whole thing no video and I'm sure you will all be seeing parts of that! I can't imagine leaving them for the year because of the relationships that have been developed but hopefully we will keep in touch.

That's all for now- we will be back in a few days! THANKS!!!

Getting adjusted...

We arrived on a Wednesday night and were pleased to find out we have running water and electricity (although it was broken for the night). We are staying in little rooms with 2 bunk beds with little room to walk. We have a living room (with concrete floor, couches, dinner table, etc) and a bathroom with an open shower and an AMERICAN toilet!!! We couldn't have asked for a nicer place for where we are. We are definitely not roughing it. There are tons of bugs because we have water front property (which makes it pretty cold at night and in the morning). Not many mosquito's though- very nice! We do catch on average a mouse a night in our rooms...but we're used to them now! The food we eat is amazing for African standards- the occasional traditional African meal but mostly we spend a few hours a day preparing meals. WE have an American stove and oven- makes cooking much easier. We have invited guests over for different meals wanting American food- they always eat it all because it would be rude not to but they don't shovel it in their mouths like we do. You can tell they think our food is weird. Tonight we will be going to village houses for dinner (bringing our own water of course) but we will be expecting to eat everything prepared so we will be getting the FULL immersion experience! Oh and...every time we eat with guests we have to SING for them- our choir is a bit rusty- but with a few nights of practice...we have perfected a few songs for them (RENT, Lean on Me, and This little light of mine- random I know- but that's what we came up with). Their singing however is amazing!!! I'll write how the village meals go later!!!

TRAVEL...finally got here!!!

Hi everyone!!! Sorry it has taken so long to blog! We are living about an hour from the internet cafe- so we've only been one time thus far and my circa 1980 computer wasn't letting me post anything. However...we are doing great! The trip has been so much fun. The group (Nancy, David, Audrey, Torie, Conley, Jordanne & Jake) is having a great experience. There's so much that has happened but I will try to give a thorough update . To start us off, we had some trouble leaving the ground in Tulsa...which believe it or not made us miss ALL our connecting flights. We did make it to Atlanta for the night and Delta put us up (in our own rooms)!!! Then we left the next morning for New York knowing we weren't going to make our international flight to Dubai. So, we had a night stay in Queens, NY. We arrived around 3pm so we took the train into Times Square and had the best time. We walked around, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, took tons of pictures in the middle of TS & of course drank milk and ate our last cookies!!! Then we flew out the next morning for our 14 hour overnight flight to Dubai. We were on Emerites airlines- the nicest plane anyone had ever been on. Torie was the only one that slept the whole time- the rest of us played games on our TV screens and called each other from seat to seat. We BARELY made our Dar Es Salaam flight out of Dubai (about 10 mins to get there) and made it into Tanzania safely. Then we had about an hour layover before heading to Mwanza where we are now. Chris Gates met us here (and after cramming in and the car not starting) we drove another hour to the village where we are staying!!!

2 days and counting...

We are packed and ready to go now! Thanks to everyone who donated clothes and gifts for us to take over. We leave on Sunday and fly to New York City where we stay the night. Then we head out on Monday morning to Dubai for a day of duty-free shopping in the airport (3rd largest in the world-but who checked?). Next we fly to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania but we aren't finished just yet. After a few more hours of layover, we fly to Mwanza and travel about 45 minutes to the Kitongo village where we will be staying at JBFC (http://www.jbfc-online.org/index.htm). The orphanage is for street girls from the age of 6-12 with hopes of adding a baby orphanage in the future! I will be 'blogging' as often as I can about all our adventures. Thanks for checking in every once in awhile over the summer!!!