“Tis the season…to prepare for another visit to Hope Africa University. We are scheduled to leave home January 3. We will be at HAU until February 29. En route home, we plan to spend a week in Brussels.
Since our scheduled time away totals almost 10 weeks, considerable thought must given to pre-planning. We have arranged for a neighbor to pick up our mail, water our indoor plants, and keep an eye on the house. All of our bills have been set up for Auto-pay or pre-paid, except for two tax bills which we hope arrive before we leave. Arrangements have been made to suspend some services, such as trash pickup; our autos have been scheduled to be taken out of service (with reduced insurance coverage) January 3 – March 8 (when we return home). Etc., etc.
Last month, we secured our visas and travel insurance. Earlier this month, I made reservations for our stay in Brussels and secured it with a deposit (in Euros, using Paypal). Both of us have been working on our course preparations and collecting the materials we need, including syllabi and textbooks. This week, Darlene got the cash we need to carry with us. (Credit cards are of no use in Burundi. Only $100 and $50 bills are accepted, and they must be no older than five years and “like new.”) I got set up on Skype, so we have that available as another tool (alongside email) for communication.
We have seen our physicians, and procured our meds (including the malaria prophylactic we use). At the end of next week, we will get our hair cut (real short!).
Darlene has been busy packing: three duffle bags full of medical equipment and supplies are ready to go. This past week, we selected out the clothes each of us will bring, so Darlene could wash, mend and iron them as necessary. I readied the electronics we will take (camera, iPod, Steri-pen, laptop, etc.), charged the batteries, etc. We are “piling” other things we need or want to take, as we think of them. These include: movie DVDs (since we will not have TV); flashlights (since we can count on electricity only ca. 50% of the time); select food stuffs (such as dried meats and peanut butter, since these are hard to come by and very expensive).
As you can see, there are many details involved in preparing for such a trip! And those I have mentioned are only illustrative…!
We do solicit your prayers, first of all, for safe travel. And we pray God’s blessings on you in the New Year!
Since our scheduled time away totals almost 10 weeks, considerable thought must given to pre-planning. We have arranged for a neighbor to pick up our mail, water our indoor plants, and keep an eye on the house. All of our bills have been set up for Auto-pay or pre-paid, except for two tax bills which we hope arrive before we leave. Arrangements have been made to suspend some services, such as trash pickup; our autos have been scheduled to be taken out of service (with reduced insurance coverage) January 3 – March 8 (when we return home). Etc., etc.
Last month, we secured our visas and travel insurance. Earlier this month, I made reservations for our stay in Brussels and secured it with a deposit (in Euros, using Paypal). Both of us have been working on our course preparations and collecting the materials we need, including syllabi and textbooks. This week, Darlene got the cash we need to carry with us. (Credit cards are of no use in Burundi. Only $100 and $50 bills are accepted, and they must be no older than five years and “like new.”) I got set up on Skype, so we have that available as another tool (alongside email) for communication.
We have seen our physicians, and procured our meds (including the malaria prophylactic we use). At the end of next week, we will get our hair cut (real short!).
Darlene has been busy packing: three duffle bags full of medical equipment and supplies are ready to go. This past week, we selected out the clothes each of us will bring, so Darlene could wash, mend and iron them as necessary. I readied the electronics we will take (camera, iPod, Steri-pen, laptop, etc.), charged the batteries, etc. We are “piling” other things we need or want to take, as we think of them. These include: movie DVDs (since we will not have TV); flashlights (since we can count on electricity only ca. 50% of the time); select food stuffs (such as dried meats and peanut butter, since these are hard to come by and very expensive).
As you can see, there are many details involved in preparing for such a trip! And those I have mentioned are only illustrative…!
We do solicit your prayers, first of all, for safe travel. And we pray God’s blessings on you in the New Year!
