Safely Arrived

Hello from Zimbabwe!

After a very long journey I finally made it to the hospital last night. Take 2 was much more successful. I left from Sacramento and flew to JFK. JFK was experiencing bad weather however and my plane was stuck on the runway for 2 hours before it was allowed to take off!! Luckily I was so exhausted from my red eye flight that I slept for those 2 hours. When we finally took off, the flight is 14 hours and 45 minutes to South Africa. I was lucky that there was no one sitting next to me and I had an aisle seat. Somehow I slept most of the way. Because we left JFK 2 hours late, we 2 hours late and I was told that I was not going to make my connecting flight to Harare, Zimbabwe. They said I could get on the next flight which was 10 hours later. I said no way, after all this I am going to make this flight no matter what. I sprinted through the entire airport (I think I knocked a few people over on the way) and made it to my flight. When I was going through the gate, they handed me a new ticket for first class! So after all that, I was able to fly first class for the last 2 hour flight (they put white table linens on the tray table haha).

When I arrived at the airport in Harare I was off the plane very quickly since I was in the front and made it through customs before the line. I was really worried about my bag since my plane had been late but I got my bag and Major was waiting for me with a sign.

Since Chidamoyo hospital is so far away from Harare, there are lots of errands to be done for the hospital and the people who work there when anyone goes into the city. Major and I went to the pharmacy, to Kathy's flat in Harare and picked up some more stuff as well. I was also able to meet 3 of Major's children. They were so nice and one of them hugged me and held my hands and kept saying how nice it was to meet me.

We also had to pick up some stuff for the construction for the new pediatric wing at the hospital. We did not have room for the pipes on our car so we were waiting for another truck from Chidamoyo that was in Harare to meet us and pick everything up. They did not come for awhile and while we were waiting it became dark. We still had to pick up a doctor and drive the 3 hours to the hospital.

As I was beginning to figure out, Major told me that there is no time in Africa. People always have time so long as the sun is out (they tell time by the sun). We did not make it back to the hospital until 10:00 pm even though my flight had arrived at 12:30. To say the least it was a VERY long trip to get here. Kathy had dinner waiting and then I went to sleep. There is a family from Seattle, Washington here as well but they are leaving tomorrow.

There has been electricity almost the entire time I have been here which I have been told is rare. There are a few people waiting for the computer but (given electricity tomorrow night) I will write about my first day in the hospital today and about ZImbabwe itself. It is incredible here and I am so excited that I will be able to spend the next 6 weeks working at the hospital and getting to know these fantastic people!!