Getting Ready for the Trip

Guest voice:  It’s me Marty, butting in on Beth’s narrative to answer the very popular question, why are you doing this?  So, here’s my answer in a nutshell.  I am using a few metaphors that will make sense to some of you of a certain age.  Seems I never abandoned a certain “sixties” sensibility.  Now if you still feel a certain attachment to those values, and you can’t write checks with lots of zeros after the operative number, the only thing left to do is to take a chance, and show up.  What can I say?  Idealism ain’t so bad, for those of you who cotton to stoney-faced pragmatism.  Can we change the world?  Nah.  But maybe we can leave it just a tiny bit better than we found it.  If we fail, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  And hey, I won’t die a hypocrite. 

That’s it from me, and now back to your narrator and my wonderful wife, who volunteered for this duty enthusiastically.  I am so incredibly proud of her.    

Ah, thanks Marty, you are a sweetie!  Anyway, as we began planning for the trip, I learned many diseases I thought eradicated are still around in Africa.  (For more info, visit this section of the CDC.)  So, in order to safely travel and stay in Rwanda, we needed shots – LOTS of shots.  We are now vaccinated for yellow fever, typhoid, whooping cough, Hepatitis A and B, meningococcal meningitis, tetanus (that one really hurt) and received boosters for diphtheria and polio.  Plus we’ll be taking anti- malaria pills before, during, and after the trip.  I have never felt so healthy in my life!                                                     

While involved with the above shot regimen, we began to look for a place to stay.  Help immediately came in the form of Jenn, our local contact.  Jenn is an American living in Kigali and we could not have asked for anyone more helpful and patient with all our questions.  The end result: we’ll be staying at the Park View Courts in the Nyarutarama area of Kigali City.  Basically a one-bedroom apartment, it has a kitchenette, living area, with a bedroom and full bathroom upstairs.  It is not, however, air conditioned.  Now, I’m not opposed to fresh air, but as I’m currently undergoing my own global warming, I’ve become a huge fan of AC.  Nevertheless, I adhere to the “when in Rome” adage and do not intend to be a fussy American.

Travel to Rwanda turned out to be an interesting process.  You just can’t hop on Expedia and book a flight to Kigali like you’d book a flight to Kansas City.  So we turned to the professionals for help.  We leave from Philadelphia, have a stop in Brussels, and then fly to Kigali.  (Why Brussels?  Well before independence, Rwanda was a colony of Belgium.)  The entire trip takes 24 hours: each flight is roughly eight hours, plus the layover, and the time difference (six hours).  It will be a looooong trip.

As we leave June 1, our next thoughts focused on packing.  Temperatures in Rwanda are fairly steady (70s to low 80s for the highs, and lows in the upper 50s and middle 60s), the big changes come from the rainy and dry seasons.  Luck is with us as one of the dry seasons begins in June.  Also, Rwanda is a fairly mountainous region, with Kigali’s elevation at 5,069 feet.  I’m hoping that means humidity stays low, but this is equatorial Africa.  If not, pictures of me will include a halo of frizz around my head so be prepared!

Next up: The Flight