Why, hello everyone!
I am the long lost Lisa Hogan who is supposed to be keeping this blog but haven’t posted since April until today. =/ whoops!
Well, I’m back! Let me tell you, it’s been busy. After our West Africa trip we were in Florida for a week at the office. That week’s time was split between 1.) trying to catch up with emails and various needs that came up while we were traveling with no internet and 2.) doing errands and trying to get packed and prepared to move to South Africa! Well, we made it. 5 large suitcases packed, plus carry-ons, and the rest of our stuff stowed in the storage unit (except a few things that we left in the office…).
We left on May 7th and arrived on the 8th in Johannesburg. But we didn’t even get to see what was to be our new home! We stayed in Joburg, met the Southern Africa team the next morning. It was great to meet them in person after emailing and knowing their names but not their faces and personalities. Then the next day we flew to Malawi and were there with the National Director for a couple of days. Flew back to Joburg and finally took the 2 ½ hr. drive to the Game Farm, our new home! But… we were only there for two days over the weekend before driving at 5am Monday morning back to the airport and flying again, this time to Madagascar.
Okay. We only got to spend a few days in Madagascar, but it was extraordinary. Not only is the National Director, Gwladys, the sweetest, most amazing person ever (with a very short stature and a very fun laugh), but the country and the people are just soooo beautiful. The only two places we’ve been to in Africa so far that have really stood out against what we’ve been familiar with are Cameroon (lush green hills jutting up everywhere, covered in banana trees and fan palms) and Madagascar.
Madagascar’s people are a mix between the Africans and Asians from Indonesia and Malaysia (and others). This makes the people fairly diverse throughout the island (it doesn’t feel like an island btw. It’s very big), and they are really very beautiful. The landscape is also breathtaking. It is very mountainous and hilly. When driving you are almost always going either uphill or downhill, the only exceptions are the straight roads through the valleys. And every valley is filled with rice fields. From the air I don’t think I saw a single valley that wasn’t glistening with wet rice fields. This makes it very dynamic as the light reflects from the water. And it’s very idyllic to see big cows trudging thru the fields, and people wading through them or boating over them. In the middle of some fields there are sometimes groups of a few mud houses build on slightly higher ground. Those that live in them have to cross the field to get to the road.
And both the city and the villages are built on the hills, and they are all made out of very pretty clay bricks. Because of the steep ground on which they are built the houses are layered and build right against the slopes, and the streets wind up and down. We had no idea how anyone driving around the city knew where they were going; it was always up and down, back and forth, and you’d feel like you must have made a circle then you turn a corner and you’re looking down on a completely different part of the city!
The city (we were in the capital, Antananarivo) had good roads, though pretty narrow in some places, but as soon as you got out of the city there were dirt roads, and they were the worst roads we’ve been on. Besides just the general uneven ware and tare that happens from traffic on a dirt road, because of the hills when it rains streams of water flow over the road at various angles as they find their way down, and the water cuts into the roads. It takes a very, very long time to get anywhere in Madagascar once you’re out of the city. And it is very hard on the vehicles, cutting their life short.
We drove out into the bush two nights to be a part of the GodMan film projections in rural villages. (though it’s called “the bush,” it was really more like what you’d think of as “the country.” It was georgous!), and it was a rough ride. Yet. The roads we were on, aren’t the worst roads in the country. 70%, I think it was, of the country is rural. So most of the population are in villages spread out all over the place in the bush and the jungle with very basic dirt roads which are not maintained. The OneHope team in Madagascar sends out small teams far into the bush throughout the country for at least a week at a time. It takes days to get some places, and they sleep outside in the bush or in the jungle, so that they can reach the children and the families in these villages. It’s really amazing.
The country of Madagascar is very, very rich in resources, but the people suffer from severe poverty. It’s a very hard situation. The government and the ministries in the country are striving to teach people the importance of education so that they will think beyond themselves and the basic survival of their families, so they can learn to invest, to grow bigger crops, etc. This country that can and does grow pretty much any kind of crop or fruit has very little export, and surprisingly a lot of import. So there is a lot of struggling happening in Madagascar, but we were amazing at how many people and ministries, including government ministries, are working so hard to bring hope and a better future to their people and their country. It’s really incredible.
So, though it was a short trip, we enjoyed it immensely. We bought vanilla beans while we were there, because Madagascar grows the best vanilla apparently! And I’m making my own vanilla extract. =) and we bought a painting from the hotel we stayed in by a Malagasy artist. We love his art! And then we flew back to South Africa. I went back to the farm that day, but Jon stayed in Joburg, because he had a last minute trip to Zimbabwe to help train some guys there, as it’s a new program in that country. He had a good time, while I had a pretty good time at the farm over the weekend… but I missed him. Plus I developed a cold, so that was no fun. He showed me pictures when he got back. =)
So, lets see… oh! And we stopped in Zambia at the end of our Malawi trip to meet up with someone. So, including France, we have been to NINE countries in a month’s time, and Jon has been to TEN because of Zim. He’s actually in Zambia again this week overseeing a shipment coming into the country. So… as exciting as all of the traveling has been… we have been so glad to be in one place for the last two weeks (tho Jon’s off again!). And finally we’ve begun to feel settled in a bit.
Work has been pretty crazy with various events going on here at the farm and we’ve just been handed responsibility for regional shipments in Southern Africa (some books are in too small of quantities for the countries with new programs to have them shipped directly to the country from international printer, so they are sent to SA and shipped from here to the destination country). It’s been a handful to say the least. Learning it and doing it at the same time. And our first shipment happened to be probably the most important one for the year! The 75,000,000th (3/4 of a billion) distribution event is happening in Zambia starting this week. And since Zambia’s program is just starting up we had to get books into country for this event! So, it’s been a high pressure first shipment to say the least. Anywho, that’s almost finished. Now only about 6 more shipments to facilitate!
So, anywho, that’s been a bit stressful, but all the same, we are glad to be getting more settled and starting to feel like we have a home. We’re living in a large room with a kitchen next door in the same little building (there are three buildings like ours which each have two rooms with a kitchen in between. They make about 2/3rds of a circle, so the rooms are like pie slices, but with flat walls on the inside and outside of the pie. The other room in our building is for guests at the lodge, no one actually lives in it, so we pretty much have the kitchen to ourselves. I’ll tell you more about the room later when I’ve taken some pictures of it! K?
Well, that’s going to have to do it for tonight! It’s pretty long… so I should probably stop anyways. =/
I hope you’re all doing well back home!
We love you and miss you!
Please post comments if you want to tell us anything! Or email us!
Byebye!
-J&L
