June 7^th (Thursday)

           We endured the long 11 hour flight from London to Johannesburg. Mind you, we all weren’t that comfortable after sitting for so long and we never really got a good sleep. The delay caused us to only have approximately 45 minutes to get to our next flight, this one was going to Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia. We made it just as they were finishing boarding (we were the last ones to board). When we went through security prior to getting to the gate Nicole had half of a water bottle full. The lady asked her to get rid of it and since there was nowhere to pour the water down a drain the lady insisted she drink it. Nicole, being a real trouper chugged the water down which made the lady finally crack a smile and a fellow passenger behind us related to Nicole’s predicament saying he has had to do that exact same thing before. When we were riding the bus across the tarmac to board we met a girl named Ellie from the Chicago area who was also helping a missionary couple in Zambia. Fiona actually knew who that couple was from her past when living in Zambia when she was younger. So Fiona and Ellie were able to talk. The flight to Zambia from South Africa was a relatively uneventful 3 hours.

Upon arrival in the Zambian capital we had to wait quite awhile in line to purchase our visas and when we finally got through to the baggage area we discovered that our checked baggage had not made it. This was probably due to the delayed flight causing the short time between our next connecting flight in South Africa. We met Chris there and he led us out to his small 6 passenger Cessna plane.

At the beginning of the flight Nicole and I weren’t feeling very well so I suggested that we sleep. I had to try mouthing the words first and then ended up writing a note on my phone and showing Nicole what I was trying to say. Chris had apologized earlier that when he cleaned the plane recently he had forgotten to return the headphones/ear protection for the passengers. That’s why it was so difficult to communicate, the motor was very noisy so we couldn’t talk and therefore having cat naps along the way helped pass the time and helped us feel better. We weren’t missing much by napping as the scenery was very much the same for the 3 hours. Green African bush below and the occasional river winding its way through the landscape. Pillars of smoke broke the horizon occasionally where people were burning brush as they often do in the cold season.

After another nearly 3 hour flight the landing strip at Chitokoloki along the Zambezi river came into view. Chris put us down very nicely and all 3 of us were grateful to be on solid ground and at our destination with no more flying to be done. The Hanna’s met us at the hangar, as did Alison, Chris’s wife. They had gotten us lots of groceries and brought us to our house (known as the Annex) at the end of the road where the missionaries’ houses are located (of which, many of the missionaries are away).

We unpacked what we had in our carry-ons and our groceries and then went to the Hanna’s for supper. We walked down the path/road by the light of our flashlights on our phones because it had become dark very quickly and you have to watch where you walk, especially at night, so that you don’t step on a snake. We had a nice supper and had a visit in front of the fire afterwards. Us girls were able to send a quick email to our families to let them know we arrived safely from Gordon’s iPad. We then returned to our house, we decided to do some laundry as we were in desperate need and I now had a chitengi from Ruth that I would be wearing the next day. All of my skirts/dresses are in my checked luggage. The plan for tomorrow is to walk up to the hospital (specifically Kariba) and see what the doctors and nurses will have us do and tour the hospital and see how things run for our first day. Hopefully Chris will bring back our luggage on Tuesday when he is next in Lusaka. I have to admit, I’m pretty nervous about how everything will go and if I will like it here. This will be my life for the next 5 weeks!//