The first wave of workers started their journeys from their homes in the USA. We had people fly out of Harrisburg, State College, Orlando, Seattle and Charlotte through various International Airports in the US, to join up in Brussels, Belgium today. Some of the connections were a little tight, but everyone made it through on time. We flew from Brussels to Burundi, and began the process of Immigration and Customs. Don was the only one on the team to NOT get his checked luggage. The Hope Africa University and Kibuye team will contact the airline tomorrow to see what happened and when to expect them to arrive in Burundi. Brussels Airways travels to Bujumbura twice a week and we expect that on Wednesday, when Darrel arrives from Canada, Don's luggage can come along up to the job with him.
Kibuye had their Customs Clearing Agent at Customs in the terminal, along with the Rector of the University, Victor. These two assisted us with getting the tools through without issues, which was an extreme blessing. (Other than not getting two suitcases). The Customs Agent at the terminal actually recognized me from our experience in October, but he was very cordial and friendly this time. Praise the Lord!
We are now all checked in at King's Conference Centre, and are "crashing" for the night. Sleeping on the plane does not always go well for everyone. I think I got a few hours of sleep on the plane but not any extended times of sleep, so I am tired to say the least. We will get up for breakfast downstairs around 7 - 7:30 in the morning. After breakfast the Hope Africa University bus will be here to pick us up for the ride to Kibuye. We may stop off at the University, as it is on the way somewhat, to give those, who have not seen the installation there, a look at another installation in Africa. We should arrive at Kibuye by lunchtime, and after lunch we will go to the site to plan our work for the days and weeks ahead.
We are seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and ten hours ahead of those in the Western US.
Pictures will start showing up on this blog tomorrow, but no one took any today. Everyone is healthy. I have sinuses that are acting up from the constant air blowing on me in the airplanes, which is pretty normal. I will look for something to alleviate that tomorrow, maybe a stop at a pharmacy or something.
The mosquitoes attacked us at the airport terminal as we were waiting in line for Visas. We had worked through all kinds of papers and requirements for the Visa applications before we came, but the agents did not even want to see any of that. The Burundi Visas in our passports now have our photos on them. This is someth9ng I have never seen before. We had brought passport photos along, but they did not want them and instead just used the one from the passport. So, for team members yet to come, don't stress over any of that. Also, the on-arrival Covid Test is no longer required, so those of us who had gone on-line and set up on-arrival Covid tests here, do not even need to bring those papers along with them.
So, your prayers and ours were answered for the most part. There always has to be some glitch in the process, or it just wouldn't feel right. Lost luggage is a nuisance, but at least there will not need to be any duty paid on them when they do arrive. For all of this we are happy.
No comments:
Post a Comment