wafrica: week number 6 (the finale)

DISCLAIMER: this is a really really long one…like almost twice as long as some of the others…ha ha please take your time if you would like to indulge! Also forgive any and all grammar and spelling mistakes! Thank you!

As I write this I’m sitting in my living room in the states…it is strange to be back…it has been almost two weeks that I will have been back…so hopefully my memory will be fresh and I can give you a great account of my last week in Africa!

MONDAY

Monday’s are deemed the Sabbath for the Howell’s and the Westerholm’s and accordingly each Monday we have been joining them in their “day off.” This was our last Monday so those of us who were not making dinner decided to head to the market for some souvenir shopping.

So Kaitlyn, Mark, and I ventured into the market to look for soccer jersey’s and other African novelties. :)

Kaitlyn and Mark were both successful in their find however I was not; but the day was not lost. Mark and Ted came over and played games, read and just hung out while, KP, Kim, Jon, and Zack cooked…all…day…BUT it was so worth it.

They did an awesome job and made a Greek feast: including goat gyros, with homemade pitas’, Greek salad with Taziki dressing (they even had black olives), and lots of french fries!

It was also a celebration for Chad’s birthday! So after dinner Rachel came over and had cake with us! Amy made an amazing beyond amazing chocolate cake with coffee icing. She is a wonderful baker AND the decorations on the cakes were smaller cakes made to look like legos…Chad likes to play with the girls and build massive buildings and other structures. So funny!

We had worship time with the girls, they went to bed, then we had a game night in continued celebrating of Chad’s birthday; so we naturally had to play Bang! Ha ha such a great game. It’s like mafia but with more detailed rules and it’s amazing.

It was Kaitlyn’s first time to play…and she did not understand the rules exactly (there are a lot of rules so it is difficult and it takes you playing a couple of times to really get it)…but anyway Kaitlyn got the character that is supposed to protect the Sheriff, who was me. But instead she kept trying to kill me! ha ha we didn’t figure it out until the last few rounds, but when we did we all just busted laughing because she had basically be playing against her team the whole time! Ha ha

But she was a good sport and we played another game and she caught on :)

TUESDAY

Our last village visit day.

Our last day in Montepuez.
Our group, Kaitlyn, Ted, Mark, and I, went with Chad to three villages. We drove down the paved road and our first stop was the village where Kaitlyn did her bounding. All of us had been to this village with Chad before so it was good to see familiar faces.

Kaitlyn’s African dad is learning to read; he is an elder in the village’s church and such a sweet man. We sat, read, journaled, and just tried to enjoy our last day in the villages, while Chad taught the reading lesson.

Village kids came and surrounded us; I just sat and stared at them; I tried to soak them in: their sweet faces, and their innocent eyes. Honestly, I started to tear up. They are just beautiful.

We had what we thought was our last African lunch: ixma (sheema) and greens or matapa. Then we packed up and road to the next village, what we affectionately call the wind up village. The reason for this name is: there is a wind up speaker thing that Chad uses in this village sometimes to teach lessons in Makua; he uses the recording, which you wind for it to play, and a picture book to go with what is being said. I’m pretty sure I’ve written about it before.

BUT today we did not wind up anything, we sang, got boiled pumpkin as a snack, and heard a message from Chad.

Side story: I had to go to the bathroom in the first village—however the latrine was basically non existent so I thought I would wait until the wind up village…come to find out there is no latrine in that village…you have to walk a few huts over and/or go into the woods…so I waited for the next village.

We showed up in the next village, which is the village where Chad is doing the men’s study with the village chief. We sat down read, journaled, and again tried to soak in our last village.

Remember how I said we thought we had had our last African meal…well as we are about to leave they tell us to sit down they have made us some food…the look on Kaitlyn’s face was priceless because she thought she had finished with ixma. Ha ha

Left the village and drove home.

We had homemade pizza…excellent. And packed up because we were leaving for Pemba the next afternoon.


WEDNESDAY

We woke up and started or finished packing up because after lunch we were headed to the BEACH!

We also had a lot of cooking to finish so we all hurried and packed then started to help Amy cook, popcorn and some other snacks and desserts’.

After I packed I played with Maggie and Jane so they would stay out of the kitchen ha ha and give their Momma a chance to get herself packed as well.

While we were getting packed up the Howell’s and the boys made their way over the the Westerholm’s. We all filed outside and started packing up the cars.

I rode shotty with Alan while Ellie, Maggie, and Ted were all in the back. Ted slept, Maggie and Ellie colored and Alan and I chatted it up on our 2 and a half hour drive to Pemba. It was very strange leaving Montepuez—sad, yeah just sad. Ha ha But I was excited to go to the beach with the families, the kids, and my friends.

We got to the beach! We stayed at a South African run restort called the Bush Camp. They had buildings that are open air where you can stay and they also have campsites. The intern girls stayed in one of the open-air buildings and everyone else camped out!

After we had set up some of the tents I got to venture down to the beach with the little girls. We got to the water and in one of the pavilion there was a television…and it was on Cartoon Network. KP pointed out that most parents would exclaim, “Don’t watch the TV you can watch TV at home.” But these girls’ don’t have TVs at their house…so is it more of a vacation for them to spend it in front of the tube than on the amazing Indian Ocean beach? Ha ha I don’t know your call.

But I did try and get them unglued so we could put our feet in the water! It was successful to a point, but I continued to loose them one by one.

It was getting close to dinnertime so we all piled into the cars and drove into the city! We headed to the Blue Dolphin!

It was on the water and it was so nice.

Mark and I spilt the grilled lobster…yes please and they even had pizza and hot dogs! Best restaurant ever! Ha ha BUT one of the funniest moments of the night was this: for some reason Maggie (oh yeah Maggie and Ellie sat at a table with me, the Kaitlyn’s and Mark) but for some reason Maggie kept asking us who was going to get married today? We were all like, “Maggie we don’t know? Who do you think is getting married today?” and she said a couple of the interns, but then for some reason she said, “Mark and Ellie! They’re getting married!”

We all laughed. But almost as soon as we had finished our laugh Ellie (who was sitting next to Mark) precedes to sit in his lap, facing him, in an effort to give him a big ole kiss on the mouth! Ha ha ha HA HA Rachel and Alan saw what was happening and all of us were like, “Woah woah woah Ellie, please don’t do that.”

It was hilarious to say the least.

All I can say is Ellie knew what she wanted and she went for it. :)

After dinner we all piled back into the cars…I rode in the back with the boys and Ellie and Abby. They wanted to have story time. So the guys started to tell them some stories. It was funny watching a 7 year-old and a 4 year-old’s faces react to some of these stories. A few were a little scarier than they should have been, but they redeemed themselves. Ha ha but story time is always a funny time especially when they think something is funny! Because their laughs are just hilariously contagious!

THRUSDAY

I woke up and before breakfast…headed to the beach. It was so nice to just sit on the beach and read or hang out, watch the water.

The great thing about this beach was it was on a bay…so the water was very calm and lake like. So you got the beach feeling and atmosphere without the huge waves.

They also had kayaks available for use, so Kaitlyn and I took one out! It was so calming and just fun to go out with one of my best friend’s and kayak on the Indian Ocean in Africa….yeah awesome.

After breakfast we all headed out with Chad to go souvenir shopping. We went to shops that were more touristy, but interestingly enough I didn’t really see any of the things some of my friend’s have brought back from Africa. Now I know I was in a different country than my friend’s who have gone be fore me were in…but it was just interesting to see the different things locals were selling to tourists. There was not a lot of jewelry or beads, there were no fabric bags of any kind, and there were no weaved bowls or other weaved items…just interesting how different areas of a continent produce so many different things.

Shopping like I have sad was very geared toward Western people; there were a lot of carvings, a lot of beautiful woodwork, and a lot of people in your face trying to sell you stuff.

One of the coolest things I bought was a Nativity scene carved from dark wood…it is beautiful and I love it.

We also visit two different missionary families one who is helping promote local business by teaching locals how to make necklaces from recycled flip flops…yes recycled flip flops that they find on the beach! They are very colorful and really easy to make! We also visited some missionaries from South Africa who makes post cards with personal photos they have taken of the area. It was fun to visit these two families on our souvenir-shopping trip.

It was lunchtime. So we headed to a Chinese restaurant. Rachel, Amy, and all of the little girls met us there. It was fun and it was really good food.

After lunch we headed back to the bush camp and proceeded to swim and kayak the day away! I got to give kayak rides to all of the little girls and that was just amazing because we got to go on an adventure together! The adventure consisted mainly of singing silly songs at the top of our lungs, but there was also some good conversation ;)

We also swam, became alligators, made sand castles, and splashed each other—a lot.

We had sandwiches for dinner and then all gathered around the fire for worship time and debriefed about the internship. (I’m actually not sure if this was on Wednesday night or Thursday night…but we will just put it here…the point is it happened.)

After the girls got in bed Alan asked specific questions about what we enjoyed about the internship, things we would change, suggestions, etc. It was fun and good to kind of process what we had learned and what we had seen over the past 6 weeks. It was also good to be able to help the families think of ways to make the internship even better for the next group!

FRIDAY

Woke up. Went to the beach.

Ah. Just love it.

After we had had breakfast and hung out at the beach for a while, some of us left for the city. We wanted to do a little more shopping in the actual market before we left.

SO

Rachel took me, the Kaitlyn’s, Kim and Mark into the market to look for some “real” souvenirs (none of those touristy things!)

I really love going into the market. It’s crowed. There are people everywhere. You have no idea what they are saving. There is music blasting, people talking! I mean I couldn’t live there, but it is so exciting to walk into this tight little ally stuff with….stuff.

A lot of the men in the market came up to us girls and tried to talk to us…we didn’t know what they were saying but apparently…according to Rachel they were asking to marry us…they were picking out which one they wanted. Hmmm

I held Katie Joy for a while so Rachel could have a break…and that was funny because people stare at white people in general but they REALLY stare when they see this little pale blonde white baby! I’m pretty sure a random woman in the market asked to hold Katie and basically took her from Rachel…. oh my.


After we shopped we headed to lunch…. at the Captain’s Club.

It was SO NICE! It reminded me of the resort I went to with my family in Cancun, Mexico. Wooden floors on the outside deck, we got a huge table under an awing by the pool, which was right on the beach in view of the beautiful blue ocean!

It was just awesome. We saw a lot with the girls! It was fun; and naturally we started to play pool monster…why does it always come to water or lava monsters with kids?

Mark was the monster and he was trying to get them out of “his” pool; and I was the “savor” but eventually Ellie got frustrated because she thought Mark didn’t want her in the pool….she started crying and we explained it was just a game ha ha and she bounced back pretty fast.

We sat down to eat and I had ordered a fish…I was thinking a nice little filet….WRONG! It was A WHOLE FISH! LIKE HUGE! We were all shocked ha ha

I ate as much as I could, KP helped me even, but I couldn’t eat that much it was so big! So the boys finished it off.

After lunch Jane was getting kind of restless so I got her life jacket on and I got to swim with her! She is fearless…she walked straight into the water! Ha ha she kind of bounded in the water but I got in there and spun her around and around…it was precious.

OH and I was kind of cold so I got out of the water and lied down on one of the lounge chairs…and Abby was so sweet, she came up to me and asked if she could lie down with me! So cute. So we took a little catnap…then Abby got back in the pool and Ellie joined me! They are the sweetest girls EVER! I love them. :)

More swimming, some volleyball on the beach, and a photo shoot with Abby on the beach!...it was a great day.

That night we went back and prepared for a grill out! It was also a celebration for Amy’s birthday! Horray! Yes Amy and Chad’s birthday are within a week of each other AND their anniversary is two weeks before that!

We had chicken and grilled veggies that we chowed down on by the beach.

Rachel had not been feeling good for most of the week and the little girls sick started getting sick as well…so they got some medicine and headed to bed early.

We played a huge game of picto.phone. so so SO FUNNY! We laughed so hard!

Headed to bed….and got excited for our last full day.

SATURDAY

I helped make breakfast and while I was cracking the eggs to scramble one exploded on me….ha ha

That had never happened before so it was just hilarious! I was just talking away to Amy and all of the sudden BOOM all over me.

On our last day the eight interns went snorkeling in the Indian Ocean. Yeah! How great is that? We went into town….and were stopped by the police on the way…yes we were stopped because we had “too many people in the car.” They asked to see all of our passports but they were all at the camp…Chad explained we had an appointment to make we couldn’t go back…so he got out to talk to the guy in charge…while another police man and woman stayed at the car and tried to talk to us…we were like, “We don’t speak Portuguese!” ha ha

Chad spoke Makua to them so he said he thought that was one reason they let him go…but he did have to pay on outride bride of a few dollars for them to let us go. He said that was only the 3rd or 4th time he’s had to pay an outright bride since he’s lived in Africa, which is amazing from some of the other stories I’ve heard. But anyway we made it through and we drove to the diving shop and headed out on a boat with two Africans.

They took us to two spots…most of us thought we were only going to go to one…so we took our time checking out the wild life and having fun just swimming around.

I saw Nemo and his dad Marlin…a lot of starfish one of them was bright blue! And a lot of other shiny fish! So fun.

So after about an hour or so we hoped back in the boat expected to head back…but the guys take us to another spot where there is a submerged boat!!!!

So the boys and I jumped back in and headed down to swim through the boat! It was kind of scary but really cool! I felt like I was in that one James’ Bond movie where they have the under water war!

So all of us but Ted and Zack got back in the boat; we let them swim around for a while…but then we were hungry so we called them in!

Chad and Jane were waiting for us when we got back to the dive shop…we all piled in the car and someone needed to hold Jane…she had a poopy diaper…no one would take her…so I stepped up. Ha ha Jane is too cute even if she does have a poopy diaper.

We headed to an Indian restaurant. It was so nice. Right on the beach—wonderful. I haven’t had a lot of Indian food so I wanted to try some…it is so spicy. And I’m not a huge fan of spice…but it was good and I’m glad I tried it.

After lunch we all piled in the truck and headed back to the bush camp to enjoy the rest of our last day.

We got back and played some games, hung out by the fire while the sun went down and helped get our sandwich dinner together.

After the girls went to bed we all gathered around the fire again for some worship time and some amazing time of encouragement.

The Howell’s and the Westerholm’s went around and individually encouraged each one of us interns. The told us very specific strengths they had seen in us through out the internship. They also related some funny and encouraging memories they had. But what was one of the best moments was when they individually prayed over us…one of my love languages is words of affirmation…so I was all over this! It was wonderful to be encouraged and loved on!

AND it was equally wonderful to hear my friends encouraged and affirmed! It made me so proud to know them and to be friends with them! Each one of the 7 other interns taught me something, and encouraged me in so many ways! (I miss them very much.)

We played a few games (you know us) and did some stargazing. Wonderful. And yes we saw shooting stars. Ha ha

SUNDAY

I woke up made breakfast. Packed up my stuff.

After breakfast we all headed down to the beach and had worship time together! We sang and Chad was very encouraging. He reminded us that when we were back in the states they would continue to live life in Montepuez. The churches would continue, the people would continue and he encouraged us to think and pray for them---my view of the body of Christ and His church has grown so much! Knowing that when I go to church on Sunday’s earlier that day thousands of people in Mozambique were also going to church! And we are all apart of the same body; just wonderful and so encouraging. It just makes me excited for the day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is KING! Bah!

I didn’t start crying until Abby asked if she could pray for us…she prayed for each of us by name…and I just lost it. It was such a blessing to have a little one love on us in such a way that she would want to pray for our safety.

We packed up the camp. Packed up the cars. And hoped in to drive down the road to the airport. It was not a long drive…maybe 5 minutes.

We got to the airport. Checked in. Checked our bags…it took almost an hour to get us all through, but we did.

We hugged and cried and it was so sad. We all went through security and waited for about 10 minutes before they started to load our flight.

We walked outside of the airport onto the pavement to walk to our plane…and as we left we looked back to the building and everyone was standing and waving at us as we walked out to the plane!...it was so bittersweet. But I was so in shock that I was leaving I really didn’t know what to think! Ha ha

We hoped on plane and surprisingly it was way nicer than one we rode on the way from Dar es Salaam to Pemba. It had air-conditioning…that’s all I cared about.

The plane ride was about 2 hours and it was just beautiful! We saw the blue ocean and the beaches!

We flew into Dar es Salam, Tanzania. We got our and went through customs…we were waiting for our bags, but could not find Zack and Kim…we waited for a while, but then decided that we needed to get checked in and go through customs again…so we got Kim’s bags and went through security.

While we are in line checking into Emirates (the airline we flew) we see them! We were all really excited because it’s just a little nerve racking loosing two of your friends in an African airport. Ha ha

What had happened was they had just not gone through customs the first time. They’d gone straight upstairs to the waiting room. Zack didn’t have any checked luggage…so he didn’t think he had to go through customs. Kim did have luggage but had just forgotten. But it was no big deal because some of the boys checked Kim’s stuff under their names.

Kaitlyn and I got to sit next to one another. We requested at the counter! We went through customs and waited for about and hour and a half before they started to load our flight.

It was fun sitting and just talking, hanging out with our group while we waited for our flight to board.

It was bout a 5 and half hour flight. Nice. EXCEPT we had to wait for almost two hours in the plane on the runway because of some technical stuff problems they had to fix. Kaitlyn and I sat next to a girl from London; she had been visiting her grandparents in Tanzania for a few weeks and was headed back home. I told her I was living there this fall and she said I would really love it! She said it’s really fun in the city especially during the holiday season!

We finally took off. And we just hung out and watched movies! We tried to sleep some, but I mostly just watched movies and helped the woman who sat next to me figure out how to work her TV. Ha ha

We got to Dubai at 2 in the morning Dubai time, which is 12-midnight Mozambique time, which is 5 in the afternoon Central Standard Time. Yeah…I was thinking in like 5 times zones. Ha ha

Sooooooo we have been traveling for already almost 12 hours. BAH!!!

Oh and the airport is so big, or maybe it was because our flight was so big…well anyways we got off of our plane on the asphalt and loaded into shuttles which drove us to the terminal. The Dubai terminal is huge and it is so nice and it is full of stuff to buy!

They had cars to raffle off, computers, souvenirs, food….it was like a mall.

So as we walked through the airport to our gate I guess it could be considered to be…MONDAY (ha ha?)

We get on our Dubai flight, which is almost 13 hours long….I was a little nervous that I would be sitting by myself BUT LUCKILY KP and Ted both sat next to me! And yes we were in an exit row! So we had a lot of extra legroom. We watched movies. Slept some…actually I slept for almost 4 hours (which I was glad for). KP slept almost the whole time!

As we were flying into America I got my ipod out and KP and I listened to Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA. Oh and we sang our favorite Makua worship song about wAmerica. Ha ha

Soooo at this point we have been traveling for about 24 hours. (I still have two more flights)

We get into New York and we are tired. But excited. We go through customs. And as we are waiting for our luggage we look around and Zack is no where to be found…ha ha

We lost him again… ha ha Because he didn’t have to get any bags he went to straight to his gate…our group started to split up from here because Jon and Zack flew out of JFK the rest of us flew out of la Guardia.

So we got a shuttle to la Guardia. Said goodbye to Jon (strange. Very strange).

We all get in the shuttle and we get a call from Zack. He has called to say goodbye (ha ha).

KP flew Delta the rest of us flew American so we had to say goodbye to her as we are getting dropped off at the American branch of the terminal. Sad.
Then there were 5.

We get checked in. Go through security. And get some FOOD! Because we’re hungry. We sit down because we are tired and notice that oh surprise our flights have been delayed. Ha ha so we all wait a bit.

Kaitlyn’s flight to Chicago left first. Then Kim, Mark, and I waited about 30 minutes after that for our flight…which was also to Chicago, but a different airport.

Ted’s was about another two hours later. So we sad our goodbyes to Kait and Ted…sad. Weird. I didn’t like it! Ha ha

(And KP actually didn’t get home until a day later because her delayed flight from New York to Atlanta caused her to miss her connection. No big she stayed with family in ATL!)

And then there were 3.

So we got to Chicago in about 2 hours, said goodbye to kim and mark then booked it to my gate which was on the other side of the airport! I had made it this far I was not going to miss my last connection! Ha ha

LUCKILY I made it just as they were starting to load! Whew.

Got on the flight to little rock. I was hungry and I was tired and now I was sweaty and a little out of breath from running. Ha ha but I got on the plane and sat under the air and zoned out for 2 hours.

So after I landed in little rock I had been traveling for like 32 hours…oh my gosh. Ha ha

My flight got there early so I had to wait for mom and daddy. But it was no big deal because I got my luggage, got a drink and just sat while I waited for them to get there. It was a little anti-climatic but good to see them none the less!

They came. We went home. Mom made some WHOLE WHEAT PANCAKES! I talked and told stories and they showed some pictures to mom, dad, and Joseph!

I gave gifts once the boys got home and then I went to bed because…the next day Tuesday was the only full day I had at home before I flew out for my best friend and college roommate Anna B Shaffer’s wedding!!!!

So early Wednesday morning I flew out for Washington State! So I had my head full of Africa and of not sleeping. (ha ha)

So I’m still in the process of processing (ha ha) Africa and Anna getting married!

It was a beautiful, perfect wedding and so fun. I’m so so glad that I didn’t miss it. And it was actually a great transition back into “normal” life. Having a big event helped my mind to kind of transition with out pressure back into America from Africa.

Wow. That was long. Hope you made it.

Well I will be continuing to process thoughts for a while; and yes in answer to a question to I want to go back to Africa?

Yes.

I want to go back. I don’t know when or for what reason, but I do I really do.

But for now…I’m home. I’m here for about 6 weeks before I go off on another adventure.

This fall I’m going to be living in London, England working for Harding’s overseas program. Yeah I know right!?

So stay tuned. There is plenty more to come.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for staying connected to me in this way. It means so much! A lot of love and appreciation!