Home Again

Difficult as it was to bid Shara and our guides from African Exposure farewell, all of us looked forward to returning home. Ahead of us was the 35+hour trip beginning with a 4 hour ride to Durban to catch our first flight of four. Shara joined us on the bus ride and into the airport as did Bob and Alf. By this time next year Durban will have its new airport open to accommodate the crowds for the World Cup. Behind us were the many friends we made and the smiling faces of the hundreds of children that we saw. The flight to Jo-Berg is a short one and then on to the 18 hour flight to Washington via Senegal. In Washington we arrived before customs opened and had to wait a short time to pass and be accepted back home. That is no place to joke around--does anyone remember the Soup Nazi from the old Seinfeld show? That is what I feel like every time I go thru customs. Shannon Smith went her way in Washington and back to Minnesota. She will be able to spread the word about our mission before Norma returns to Onamia next May. Make sure you thank the people of Onamia for their support Shannon. It was then off to Denver and then to Phoenix. All our luggage was accounted for and Caleb was waiting outside in the bus to drive us home. Pastor Liles surprised us by joining Caleb and the team for the ride.

Your mind might realize that you have returned home but your body does not catch up for a while. At 3 or 4 in the morning your body is saying that you are late getting up and at 2 in the afternoon it is telling you that it is time for bed. This will clear up in a few days.

Now we begin to gather our pictures and analyze the work that has been done and start to plan the tasks for next year. I will be giving presentations to several clubs in the area and we will be reporting back to our local churches. There are still many unknowns about the success of our mission and we can only plant the seeds of hope for the children that we have touched. Will it be this generation or the next that will break the cycle of HIV/AIDS deaths in the Shongweni community? They have come so far already from the atrocities of apartheid only 15 years ago and the waddle houses that they lived in and the empty church that is now the center of progress and love and soon to be training and economic growth. An expression that I heard on this trip sums up our efforts--"Many drops fill a glass." Hopefully our 22 team members are considered one drop. I will continue this blog as we plan our mission for next year.