I was able to mostly sleep on Tuesday night, which was good, because we had another early morning at the airport.

Gracious drove from his home to pick us up, and Daniel drove the truck to drop us off at the Blantyre airport. It was a weird day of travel. The Blantyre airport is TINY, we made it through check-in relatively easily (we were behind a youth group that had spent the previous nine days helping to build a school). I asked them where they were from, and they said Utah… well mostly, some were also from Arizona. I assume that they are Mormon missionaries.

I am always interested in what drives people to travel and to serve. Partly because I know why I do, and I’m curious if others have a similar motivation. But also because there is quite a bit of criticism in the non-profit world of people (especially late teens) that head to developing nations to serve. The criticism is that these volunteers have a “white savior” complex. Or they often come and do more harm than good because they don’t have the requisite skills to complete the work that they signed up to do. Or they exploit the people they are supposed to be serving by taking and sharing photos of them.

Perhaps some of the criticism is warranted, but generally, I don’t see that. Coming from my own perspective, the times that I was a volunteer, I truly wanted to show people the love of God and help improve their situation if it was in my power to do so. Now that I am in a position to seek out volunteers to send to various places, I know that the people volunteering are doing so because they have a heart to help others.

I think when we volunteer we should be honest about our own limitations and skills, so that the best person for the job is chosen. I think it’s important to take the time to try and understand the culture that you will be immersing yourself in so that you honor your hosts. And when it comes to the photos… most people (especially kids) love having their photo taken, just make sure that the subject of the photo is comfortable and looks their best. No one wants an unflattering photo of themselves out there, and never, ever take a photo that would embarrass the person, or highlight their disadvantages (for example, a group of young kids wanted me to take their photo, so I did. At one point one of the little girls turned her head and you could see that she had some hair loss, likely from an infection. I would never post that photo of that little girl. Her struggles are not there for my sharing — But I will share a gorgeously lit photo of her beautiful smile, because that’s who she is).

On my next trip to Africa, I’m going to bring a portable photo printer, so when I take these photos of people, they get one to keep of themselves. I’m not a photographer by any means, but open shade and an iPhone camera can make up for my lack of skill. I’m going to share some photos from my last trip to Malawi, so I can share some beautiful photos of our dear brethren.

Well, that took a bit of detour. Haha! From Blantyre we flew 30 minutes to Lilongwe (on a prop plane! — a first for me), we exited the plane in Lilongwe and were escorted across the runway to a waiting plane, where we took an hour flight to Lusaka. Upon landing, we stayed in our seats as some people deplaned, and others boarded. We then took an hour flight to Harare.

This is my first time visiting Zimbabwe, and the airport is very modern and easy to navigate. We zipped through immigration (they asked us no questions, just said $30 each for the visa), bypassed customs since we had nothing to declare and were outside before we knew it.

Mabasa Chichaya, the pastor for Zimbabwe was waiting and helped lug our bags to his waiting truck. It’s almost a two hour drive from Harare to Kadoma (it is pronounced exactly as it is spelled, but also it’s very difficult to say with an American accent, but I have it on good authority that I can say it properly — sweet Layla and Christal Chichaya told me that I have managed it).

It was early evening when we finally arrived, so we had hunkered down and I got to know Chisomo (Mabasa’s wife), Layla and Christal a little bit better.

On Thursday we awoke and I was able to get some work done in the morning, and in the afternoon we picked the girls up from school and drove to the property that the Church owns just outside of Kadoma. This facility will be used for the Feast and if the opportunity arises, a youth camp. It was nice to get an update on the progress of the construction.

While out and about we stopped at a couple of shops in town and bought the ingredients to bake a cake. It turned out so-so; the vanilla was not real and the pan I had was the wrong size so it had to back longer than normal and got dry on the edges and brownie like in the center.

The electricity was out briefly in the evening, and at that time the internet cut out. Verizon says that there is coverage in Malawi, but Lewis has been unable to get any service, so we’ve been relying on the Wi-Fi at the Chichaya’s home. After the power outage, the internet was off the rest of the day.

My stomach has been about the same here in Zimbabwe as it was in Malawi, as it was in Ethiopia… which is not great, but pepto is helping some. I can’t say how much I appreciate those that have been praying for me.