The Trip April 17-19

Despite me having two appointments booked for the morning of departure, we managed to get on the road on time. We arrived in Dorval with plenty of time to spare which allowed us the luxury of stopping at Asha for a little shish Taouk. Chris stayed with us in the airport for about an hour, but then decided to “rip the Band-Aid off quickly” and so he left without prolonging the pain of separation any longer. It certainly was a surreal feeling to be saying by to father/partner/friend for such a long period.
The flight to Amsterdam went smoothly. I got very little sleep since at any one time at least one of the children was awake, but it was still enjoyable. After a three hour stop-over in Amsterdam, we started the longest leg of our trip which was made even longer because just two days before we left, when we all received an e-mail stating that our itinerary had been changed and that we would now be stopping in Nairobi rather than flying direct to Dar es Salaam. We touched down in Nairobi to the news that our flight to Dar would be delayed by three hours… no explanation, just a notification on the departure board…”pole pole” welcome to Africa!!!
We finally got to bed at the beautiful Movenpick in Dar es Salaam around 3 a.m.. There was no debate, however, that we would be up at nine to meet with Malinga when he arrived for breakfast and a swim. Malinga was as beautiful, interactive, and shy as I remembered. He and Adam hit it off immediately. They talked and played all afternoon in the room and at the pool. Sid and the two boys played baseball with a soft ball and bat donated by the school and had a great time swimming during a prolonged hiatus in the rain.
On our way to the airport we stopped at Malinga’s orphanage to drop him off and deliver soccer balls, toothbrushes, toys and clothes to the kids, who were very appreciative. Then a wonderful and animated game of soccer ensued. It was great to see the kids again and especially to see how well Isakwisa seems to be doing since his surgery restored his hearing. The flight to Kilimanjaro Airport was uneventful and it was a refreshing change not to have to deal with customs in any extensive way, such as happened 30 minutes later when the rest of the caravan group arrived with all of our medical supplies!! It was nice to be able to watch that arrival from the other side of the glass as opposed to having to deal with the bribery that had to happen last year!

While waiting for the others to get through customs, I had the pleasure to finally meet three people that I have been longing to get to know for months. Chris Fraser was there to meet us as was Abbas the wonderful “right-hand man” and Safari guy. But the most anticipated meeting for me was to finally meet Agnes. I had felt for months that I knew her and her warmth and dignity shone through immediately. I can't wait to spend more time with her over the next few weeks.
We all loaded into to coaster vans and arrived at the Leopard Hotel exhausted but thrilled to be here…the beginning of a great adventure!