I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

Here is a nice update for everyone or an exam break for some. Finding everything that I am going to need for Africa in my true thrifty manner has proved to be interesting. I am trying to find out what needs to be bought high end and what can be bought at the dollar store. I never thought that these expenses would tally up the way that they have been! Luckily the bracelet sales have given a little extra money after the expenses of fundraising. A tip to future BBers: keep fundraising well after the $2 000, you will find ways to make it useful in travelling supplies which need to be bought! One of the most expensive things that I have purchased so far is my backpack. It cost $100 for a 65L pack. I bought this one second hand. There are other things such as water purification which needs to be bought still. I need three or four of them! I have been spending my last month walking around my house and noticing things that I fully take for granted. Exhibit A: Running clean tap water. I am not going to have the luxury of clean running tap water for four months! I keep wondering what that is going to be like. For those of you who may not know me very well there is one thing that you should know: I drink a lot of water. When I say a lot I don’t mean like two glasses at dinner, I mean 5-6 glasses of water at dinner sometimes. It’s hard to believe that so many people are not entitled to the same luxury that we take for granted every day. I know right now that it will be the hardest obstacle for me to face, to be responsible for continuously purifying my own water.

Other things I take for granted: laundry. I get to put all of my clothes into a laundry machine and add a little soap, leave and when I return all of my clothes are clean. It’s amazing isn’t it? That is another luxury that I am going to have to learn to live without. I keep thinking about how I need to start imagining new ways that I am going to have to do everything. I have been camping before but it was for three days at the most and by the time we got back we were happy. I know this isn’t going to be like living in the bush with no luxuries at all, but there are going to be changes which are going to need to be made. I am interested to see what changes are going to have to be made.

I was on youtube looking up the Kamwokya Christian Caring Community. This is an amazing video that I found. The video focuses on the HIV/AIDS program but it made me excited for working in the community: