We had a great last day in Lushoto! The team along with the Irente Rainbow Outreach team made a trip to Soni, a village near Lushoto, to introduce the "books in a bag" to parents with children with disabilities. They reacted well and seemed to really enjoy our books. It was fun to watch the Outreach team that we had trained the week before, speak to the parents about how to use the books. There were several primary school children that had come with there parents so it was neat to see there reactions as well. I even attempted to read of the books to them in Swahili :)
On a more current note, the team has made it safely back to Arusha. 5 have left for Safari but Marilyn and I are anxiously waiting for our families....
Waiting being the key word :) We received news early this morning that their flight to D.C. was cancelled and so they were unfortunately going to miss their flight on Turkish Airways to Istanbul. This being a crutial leg of their trip, they managed to fly through Chicago and make it to D.C. Here they found themselves with a missed flight and very little help in the middle of the night at the airport. What a mess! Airport help at 3am is hard to come by!
Eventually they figured out that there was a flight leaving from D.C. to Ethiopia in the morning. They were told there were no hotel rooms available within a 30 mile radius, so sleeping at the airport was going to have to suffice. Marilyn and I were pretty much freaking out at this point, me in tears as always, but there was little we could do on the road in Tanzania. It was a waiting game for both sides until the Ethiopian Airlines counter opened at 7:00 a.m. (2:30 in the afternoon TZ time). The team and I stopped for lunch in Moshi and then made our way to Arusha to drop off luggage at the JM tours office. It was nice to see Winnie (Efraem's wife) again. We were sad to see the team head off to Safari but we knew they were going to have lots of fun! Myself, on the other hand, was nervous to call my mom to hear about the flight drama. I put it off until the very last minute and eventually got ahold of my brother, Cody, to find out that he had been waiting in line at the ticket counter since 5:30am and managed to get everyone in the group of 4, a flight from D.C. to Ethiopia leaving in just a few hours. YAAAAH! Hooray! No more fretting! Turns out, they are currently in flight to Ethiopia and have a flight leaving from there to TZ scheduled at midnight. We are hoping that they can get on an earlier flight if people don't show up or cancel from the 10:20 a.m. flight. This would be ideal, but seeing how things have gone thus far we are just hoping there get here at any time in one piece :)
As for Marilyn and I, we are enjoying ourselves at the Impala Hotel in the heart of Arusha. It is much different being back in a big city instead of the quiet peaceful mountains of Lushoto. We have been relaxing since hearing the good news and are waiting for dinner to arrive at the hotels outdoor restaurant. Both of us are very tired from our 5:30 a.m. wake up call, long drive, and emotional day! Hopefully the both of us can get a good nights sleep and be prepared to see family in the afternoon tomorrow :)
Prayers are greatly appreciated and encouraged for our traveling family members!!!
Here are some photos from our Outreach experience in Soni.
Soni's Lutheran Church where Outreach is helf
The team settling in to talk about the books
Parents working with Kagura Kamwe
Parents and Volunteers working with The Elephant and the Mosquito
School children enjoying our books
Reading to the children in Swahili :)
Efraem reading to the children, he was much better at it than I!
What a joy we have experienced sharing books with school children in Tanzania
On a more current note, the team has made it safely back to Arusha. 5 have left for Safari but Marilyn and I are anxiously waiting for our families....
Waiting being the key word :) We received news early this morning that their flight to D.C. was cancelled and so they were unfortunately going to miss their flight on Turkish Airways to Istanbul. This being a crutial leg of their trip, they managed to fly through Chicago and make it to D.C. Here they found themselves with a missed flight and very little help in the middle of the night at the airport. What a mess! Airport help at 3am is hard to come by!
Eventually they figured out that there was a flight leaving from D.C. to Ethiopia in the morning. They were told there were no hotel rooms available within a 30 mile radius, so sleeping at the airport was going to have to suffice. Marilyn and I were pretty much freaking out at this point, me in tears as always, but there was little we could do on the road in Tanzania. It was a waiting game for both sides until the Ethiopian Airlines counter opened at 7:00 a.m. (2:30 in the afternoon TZ time). The team and I stopped for lunch in Moshi and then made our way to Arusha to drop off luggage at the JM tours office. It was nice to see Winnie (Efraem's wife) again. We were sad to see the team head off to Safari but we knew they were going to have lots of fun! Myself, on the other hand, was nervous to call my mom to hear about the flight drama. I put it off until the very last minute and eventually got ahold of my brother, Cody, to find out that he had been waiting in line at the ticket counter since 5:30am and managed to get everyone in the group of 4, a flight from D.C. to Ethiopia leaving in just a few hours. YAAAAH! Hooray! No more fretting! Turns out, they are currently in flight to Ethiopia and have a flight leaving from there to TZ scheduled at midnight. We are hoping that they can get on an earlier flight if people don't show up or cancel from the 10:20 a.m. flight. This would be ideal, but seeing how things have gone thus far we are just hoping there get here at any time in one piece :)
As for Marilyn and I, we are enjoying ourselves at the Impala Hotel in the heart of Arusha. It is much different being back in a big city instead of the quiet peaceful mountains of Lushoto. We have been relaxing since hearing the good news and are waiting for dinner to arrive at the hotels outdoor restaurant. Both of us are very tired from our 5:30 a.m. wake up call, long drive, and emotional day! Hopefully the both of us can get a good nights sleep and be prepared to see family in the afternoon tomorrow :)
Prayers are greatly appreciated and encouraged for our traveling family members!!!
Here are some photos from our Outreach experience in Soni.
