After a bit of dorm preparation, we went off to the airport with a driver to collect several students from Ethiopia and Tanzania as they are returning for the final term of this school year. This a migration that happens on different scales, depending on the length of the break, 12 times each school year when you count the coming and going. On this particular trip we saw: A duck herder and a turkey herder. It seemed herding turkeys was by far the more difficult job. Baby lamb. Full size couch on the back of a motorcycle. Really, it took up the entire lane. Nice couch, blue with brown inlays, claw feet. A *matatu going the wrong way on a divided highway leading about 50 other rouge drivers as Sammy, our driver, exclaimed, "Oh, what mayhem!" Donkey carts on the on-ramp. A small flock of ostriches. A few impalas. Three zebras. One giraffe. That was just on the way to the airport.The cyclones in Mozambique and the Comoros Islands are much more than just a headline to many of the students at RVA. In our dorm, we have three girls who parents serve in Mozambique. One girl's parents were directly in the path of the strongest winds and rain from cyclone #1. It was six days after the cyclone hit when she finally heard from them and that they were safe. Another girl, whose parents serve on the Island was actually there during school break when cyclone #2 hit. They are all safe, their house was spared, but they have friends who lost everything.
We are always in awe of the lengths missionary families go to to carry out what they have been called to do; goodbyes and separation, droughts, flooding, etc. Very little of what they do is easy. It gives us a great deal of motivation to the relatively easy job we are doing. We are 2/3 of the way through the school year which finishes up in mid July. We vacillate between being totally engaged and missing our people in the states. Thankful for Skype.During the break we went to France and England. Just amazing! Bucket list kinds of things; Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame (10 days before the fire), catacombs, chocolate eclairs (we told our girls there's definitely more of us to love), St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Oxford, Bath, Stone Henge, Jurassic Coast, English countryside (it looks just like in the BBC tv shows!), Windsor Castle. We were there 2 weeks and walked 182 miles. Such a great trip.
The old adage is pretty accurate for us. When we are working we work hard and when we are playing we play hard. That's all for now! Have a great Spring!
Matatu- noun, a minibus or similar vehicle used as a taxi; adj., lethal!
