A few weeks before our trip, the team met to stuff 10 suitcases with all sorts of donated items that we had collected - children's and adult's clothes, school and hospital supplies, shoes, toiletries, and even soccer balls and two parachutes! We carefully weighed each bag to make sure we would not go over the 50-pound limit allowed by the airline. Most of us saved room in our other suitcase so we could pack even more. Who needs a big wardrobe for a mission trip anyway?
Three of us left a few days earlier than the scheduled trip.
Dennis, Lyle and I all flew to Amsterdam together but then went our separate ways on the second leg.....Dennis to Nairobi to visit a cousin for a few days, and Lyle and I to Kilimanjaro Airport so we could take a day to visit our World Vision child. Mount Kilimanjaro? Lyle thought it would be a great opportunity to climb it, but after finding out that it would take at least four days, that goal is on hold! Instead, we were able to spend a day at Arusha National Park with Karashi and a guide and saw our first glimpse of giraffes, wildebeasts, zebras, and baboons! (Our visit to see Ronika will be posted at the end of our trip!)
We were all reunited on Saturday morning, after a late night arrival the night before to our meeting place at Mt. Meru Game Lodge. This was a special place to stay in Arusha before beginning our mission trip. The small lodge is situated in a game sanctuary, so we woke up to monkeys on the roof and zebras, elands, and ostriches walking past our rooms!
After our "reunion breakfast" together, we were ready to embark on our 3-hour trip west to the village of Karatu, near the Ngorongoro Crater.....even if it was pouring rain outside!
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