Africa Revisited

If you are wondering about our recent Youth Mission to Africa, then the above picture says it all. 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong' is an understatement to us now.

On Sunday the 8th, 4 recently graduated HS Senior boys embarked on an unforgettable journey with their fearless, though in pain, leader-Jimmy Mitchell. What follows is a list recounting all that went completely wrong:

1. Somehow, and I can't quite explain it because we were sitting right there for over an hour listening for them to call it (which never happened) and waiting to see people get up and get in line to board (which never happened), we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta.

2. The flight we were supposed to get on in NY (and that we were to hook back up with in Senegal) was delayed for a few hours due to fog leaving us in a bare bones holding cell in Dakar, Senegal. A place where Carlton and I were unable to look around for a place to fill our growling bellies because they would not allow us to leave our holding cell and potentially get mixed up in the other people waiting for a different flight!

3. Our South African Airways flight from Capetown to Windhoek (our final destination) was canceled. They put us on Air Namibia.

4. Our luggage was misplaced. It was brought to us 2 days after we had arrived in Namibia.

5. My pain during the flights (which, when added together, was about 24 hours in length) became excruciating. What I had thought was hemorrhoids turned out to be something worse, much worse. I should have known due to the amount of pain. I just thought that I was a wuss!! Upon investigation by a German doctor in the Maerua Mall, I found out just what it was that was bothering me so much. Hemmies? No, not that nice. Fissures? No, much worse. What could it be?!? How about a Deep Tissue Anal Abscess!! One that needed to be operated on that night. Anal Surgery in a 3rd World Country is not my idea of a great start to a student mission trip!!

6. Carlton, one of our students, vomited for 2 days straight. He drank out of a water fountain at one of the schools we visited. We think that was what did him in.

7. Xenophobia was high in the part of town where we stayed and we went nowhere without a native counterpart.

8. Mike K lost his front tooth while eating a candy bar that I had provided. Not too good, huh?

9. While out late one night with Steven, a Namibian counterpart, 3 big women started saying something in their native tongue. Steven prompted me to hurry along the street. One of them had seen me and wanted me to be her white husband. When she switched over to English, I turned back to smile and wave. She promptly told me to stop smiling. There was nothing funny about it to her. She wanted me now!! Steven, in all seriousness, told me to pick up the pace even more because they might try to rape me.

10. On the flight back from Dakar to NYC, a passenger, unbeknownst to anyone, had a heart attack and died. The flight was 10 hours in length, so it was an honest mistake by the flight attendants. I'm sure they thought he was asleep like many others on the flight. It was probably when they came to tell him to put his seat back in the upright position that they found out the truth. Once we landed in JFK, the medics came in and tried to revive him. He was gone.

11. Due to the death, we were delayed and almost missed our flight to Cincinatti. The women at the counter were yelling at us as we ran to board. We had run across the whole airport and were drenched with sweat. Not a pretty sight, let me tell ya!

I think that's about it. Other than these undesirable events, the trip went smoothly and was a great success!! Needless to say, when we arrived home yesterday evening, we were full of stories that seem too epic in nature to be true. I will tell you more about it and post some pics chronicling our adventures in the days to come.