We're Home!

For those of you that are still following our blog, I thought I would write to let you know that we made it back into the country on December 17th at about 10am. We have now had 2 days being in Lexington and it will definitely take some getting used to! We went to the mall yesterday, not knowing what we were in for; Super Saturday was overrun with people looking for last minute items for Christmas and I was unprepared for the hustle and bustle of this, now, foreign culture of mine. I purposely, all be it naively, thrust myself into the world of consumerism far to soon!
It is now 5:20am and I've already been awake for 1 1/2 hours; I can't seem to rid myself of the jet lag. Unfortunately for those that want to see me in the evenings, I am a miserable, worn-out mess by the time we get together. I get tired at 7pm and get up at 4am, this makes for a fabulous night person!
Coming back has had its share of pleasures and heartaches; it has been great to see my friends and family, but something is different this time. I've heard people, after a trip of significance, say that after their trip they felt profoundly different and wished that others could understand, but now I know it first hand. I feel vastly different from the man I was prior to my leaving, but I come back to a home, aside from the blanket of snow, that feels largely unchanged. This incongruity has been a challenge and a burden for the last two days. I know I'm newly back to the culture in which I left, but I can't help feeling an emotional pull for the other side of the world.
With that said, this transition back into American life has been harder than I expected, but I think my anxiety is abating slightly each day. I can't expect to jump between, literally, two contrasting fields of vision without certain repercussions. I have been encouraged, however; the sweets here are much more to my liking!

Coming Home Soon!

I’ve been singing Christmas music for 1 week now, but still haven’t been able to conjure up the typical nostalgic vibes. Not only is it pretty dang hot here (my tan is getting pretty nice J), but I also find out that you all back home are having a good ol’ fashioned snow storm and I’m not there to enjoy it! How long has it been that we had significant snow amounts in December and it happens to be in the same year that we decide to not be around! Anyway, we began packing for home this past weekend and it was a bittersweet feeling. For one, I’m so looking forward to coming home to the Christmas feel and the joys that home brings, but the concept of home seems to have changed. This place has given me such a feeling of purpose and an opportunity to be fully in touch with myself, that it is proving difficult to leave. One thing is for certain, my aspirations have been augmented and my determination for seeking my goals has been enhanced. I think that I am coming back a changed man; perhaps not so changed that I am different at first sight, but distinctive upon probing. I now find that it will take me a lifetime to live up to the desires I have for myself, and an equal span of time to contemplate what’s warranted the change.

-Ben

Update on Psychology Work with Snap

I thought I would write a little blog to just to keep you up to date with my volunteer work for SNAP (Swaziland National Aids Program). On Wednesday, December 8, 2010, I went to Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland, to meet with the King’s Cabinet members to discuss some data that was collected to better understand the prevalence of stress and anxiety within the health care community. The government had hired a company to collect and analyze data for their study of over 2500 health care workers/participants from all over Swaziland. I was contacted by the office of the Swazi Minister of Health to come to a meeting, as an outside consultant, designed to overview the data and develop protocols to enhance the government’s psychological care. My assessment of their 85-page manual was that it was pretty lacking and I offered to take a more in depth look into how to make the data tell us something useful. Reluctantly, during the meeting I had to inform the other members of the cabinet (the ones who originally collected and analyzed the data) of some noticeable holes in the data. The team took my suggestions on ways they could clean up the data, but in the end, I noticed that the data, previously analyzed (by an outside source), needed to be revised. Seeing a need from the team and the possibilities of brushing up on my stats, I agreed to reanalyze the data. I plan on working on some validity and reliability studies once I get back stateside and then sending them my findings. I’m looking forward to continuing my relationship with the Swazi government and hope to, perhaps, get a publication out of the data.

-Ben

Why can’t we ever have an uneventful road trip?

We woke up yesterday and wanted to watch Harry Potter 7. We decided to drive to the nearest movie theater to watch said movie. The nearest theater is 3 hours away in South Africa. We suffered through slow Siteki internet, as usual, to find directions. We left Mabuda. We came back to Mabuda. We got all the stuff we forgot and left Mabuda again. We got lost but said that we planned the detour. We drove an hour out of our way. We found the road that we were supposed to be on. It was a dirt road. The Gracia doesn’t like dirt roads. We took another “detour”. We made it to the border post. We got a bad border post official. We couldn’t get into South Africa. We got a good border post official. We can stay in South Africa as long as we want now. We followed a cow through the border gate. We got stuck behind a wedding processional. They were swerving through both lanes of the highway. We passed them. They weren’t happy. We followed another cow on the highway. We turned toward Nelspruit onto a dirt road. Did I mention the Gracia doesn’t like dirt roads? We turned back to the paved road. We took another “detour”. We went another half hour out of our way. We got to the movie theater. We were 3 hours early. We left the movie theater. We called a backpacker’s hostel to find a place to sleep. They didn’t answer. We called again. They still didn’t answer. We called again. Ditto. We called another backpacker’s hostel. They also didn’t answer. We called again. Take a guess at the result. We drove to the first backpacker. My computer battery died. It had the directions on it. We took a wrong turn. We justified it by looking at the nearby restaurants. We found the correct road. The backpacker’s hostel did indeed exist. We got the last rooms they had. It was more expensive than we wanted to pay. We found another hostel. The Pakistani that I talked to scared me. We decided to go with the first hostel. We went to watch HARRY POTTER 7! The air conditioning in the theater was out. We watched it anyway. Before the movie started we quickly recapped 6000 pages of Harry Potter for Eric. Eric was still confused the majority of the movie. We left the theater very happy. We gorged ourselves on pizza. We went back to the expensive backpackers. We tried to stay up late. We only made it to 10pm. Ben wasn’t so lucky. He had an in-depth conversation with a Zimbabwean with aspirations to be an international businessman/televangelist. For two hours. He went to bed. Grace told him off in her sleep. We got up in the morning. Apparently there was a huge thunderstorm the night before. I slept through it. As usual. I wore a hat because I didn’t want to shower. I went to breakfast. I didn’t make it to the kitchen. The Zimbabwean international businessman/televangelist thought I was Ben. I didn’t realize this until it was too late. Blasted hat. An hour later I ate toast. We left before I had time to brush my teeth. We backed out of the parking lot. We realized we had a flat tire. With one of our “new” tires. I brushed my teeth with my newfound time. We put the doughnut tire on. It gets a lot of use recently. We went to get Fix-A-Flat. It doesn’t work for tires that are off the rim. Our tire was off the rim. We bought it anyway. We went to a tire store to get the tire fixed. It was closed. We went to another tire store. It was also closed. It was Sunday. Everything is closed on Sunday. All the traffic lights were out. The storm apparently knocked out all of the electricity. We went to a gas station to pump up the tire. We worked for a half hour to get the tire back on rim. It didn’t work. We went to another gas station to try the same tactics for getting the tire on the rim. Why we thought that would work is beyond me. We found another tire repair store. It is open 24/7. It was closed. Remember the electricity issue? We went back to the second gas station to try to get the tire on the rim. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It worked this time. We were happy. We pumped up the tire. It still didn’t hold air. We had a mini meltdown. We went to McDonald’s. We were happy again. We went to the grocery store. It was closed. Still no electricity. We tried the Fix-A-Flat. It didn’t work. We put the doughnut tire back on. Did I mention how much use it gets? We decided to drive back to Swaziland. On the doughnut tire. Ironically, the doughnut tire is the most reliable tire we have. We tried a new “shortcut” back to Swaziland. It wasn’t a shortcut. We turned around and tried another shortcut. It was a shortcut. We got to the border gate. We had a good border gate official. We were through the gate in 5 minutes. No cows blocking our entrance in to the country this time. We got pulled over at a traffic stop. Eric said he was a doctor and they let us go right through. We got back to Siteki. All tires were still intact. Except our “new” one. We passed the place that sold us the tire. We weren’t happy with them. We went back. We asked for a new tire. They actually gave us one. We were happy with them. We saw a small child riding in the back of a truck. There were 8 goats in the truck with him. Welcome home.

-Brad

Sorry we have been so late in updating the blog, but we have put up many new pictures and 3 new blogs. Enjoy!

Update on Ben's Work with SNAP!

SNAP(Swaziland National AIDS Program) Psychological Care and Support Unit is the governmental group that I have been working with for the last few months and I wanted to give you an update on what I have been up to! I work with a team of psychologists and psychiatrists from around the country to understand and develop stress management techniques for health care workers assisting the HIV/AIDS population in Swaziland. We have collected a large amount of data from over 2,000+ participants in all 4 quadrants of the country and I am part of a smaller group that is working to analyze, critique, and draw conclusions from the data. On Dec. 8th I will be traveling to Mbabane (the capital city of Swaziland) to meet with other government officials along with King Mswati III's council member, the Minister of Healthcare and Social Welfare, to display our findings.
I've really enjoyed my work with them, though it has been short-lived, but really hope that this meeting goes well. I've also addressed the council on trying to set up a way to continue my work with SNAP as an outside contributor to which I have received positive vibes!
-Ben

Update on the Garden

For those that are keeping track of the progress of the garden, we are in our last 2 weeks of work for Brad and myself so we are at a fever pitch to get many things done prior to handing off the job. Brad and I just completed the focal point project for the garden which is a large waterfall that flows into a series of 3 different pools on its way to the avocado garden. Brad has 2 men working with him planting ferns, lilies, vines, trees, poinsettias, etc. I have 3 other men working with me on all the hard scape work. We have just put in another two sets of steps, leveled the area that is the future site of the cabana/barbecue area, and preparing for the massive set of steps leading up to the main terrace. We are also in the process of routing a 1/2 kilometer pipe from a distant dam to the upper waterfall (first of 3 main waterfalls in the feature) as well as putting a 4 kilometer fence around the perimeter of the garden.
With the water collection system in place, we are now able to provide the farm and community approximately 10,000 liters of water per day in the dry season and 10,000 liters every 6-10 hours in the rainy season.
We are starting to recognize the debilitating effects of the weather now. We lost a our work day today due to a massive amount of early morning rain and it looks like the rain will continue tomorrow as well. We are working 9 hour days and 6 days a week now trying to complete these major projects before we leave.

One thing is for certain, we have had a great time putting our blood and sweat into this project and will probably want to come back to Siteki in a few years to see its progress!

Thanksgiving Day in Swaziland

Eric's parents, Ken and Alice Higgins, came to visit us here in Swaziland on November 20th in order to see the country, visit Eric, and have Thanksgiving here in Siteki. We picked up Mr. and Mrs. Higgins in Johannesburg then took them on a short vacation up to the northern parts of South Africa to the Mpumalanga region of the country, famous for its large waterfalls. We stayed in a small town called Graskop while enjoying such sights like the Three Rondavels, God's Window, Bourke's Luck Potholes, and Mac Mac Pools before going back to Kruger National Park for a whirlwind tour through the southern part of the park. We were able to see many of the larger animals from our previous visit (elephant, kudu, hippo, crocodile, impala, etc.), this time we were also able to see many smaller, more unique animals, than we did in the 8 days on our previous trip.
The crowning achievement of our final trip to Kruger was only 2 km away from the park exit, when just to the right of our vehicle, we looked 10 meters into the bush to find a cheetah that had just brought down a kill and was chowing down right in front of us. To those who are wondering how exciting this was, many people will go to Kruger on multiple trips and never see a cheetah, let alone one that has just chased down his lunch!
We got back into Swaziland with some struggles of our own. We were driving a loaned SUV from Dr. Pons since we were going to some rugged country and while driving through some seriously hot temperatures we noticed that the air conditioning would periodically switch off. We thought nothing of it and just opened the windows. The climax came when we were driving up the steep mountain road going to Siteki when we heard a large boom from the engine and steam billowing from the hood. We were only 4 km from our destination when we cracked the radiator!
Thanksgiving was only two days away so once we finally made it back to the farm with the broken SUV we quickly began preparing our epic Thanksgiving Day meal! On the menu for this festive occasion was turkey (we had to drive 4 hours away to find one!), mashed potatoes, butternut souffle`, cranberry salad, green-bean casserole, pumpkin pie (thank you, Mrs. Higgins, for bringing the french-fried onions and canned pumpkin!), apple pie, homemade rolls, and Southern Sweet Tea! We had a total of 14 people around our beautiful table and 4 countries represented. After our meal, Eric gave a great history lesson on the beginnings of the holiday. This Thanksgiving was particularly interesting due to the vast changes in scenery and guests, however, one thing stayed the same, we ate a exorbitant amount of food for which we were suffering for 2 days afterward!
-Ben

New Photos

Check out the new photos!

-Brad

As if one vacation from our vacation was not enough...

We are excited to pick up Eric's parents tomorrow from the airport in Johannesburg. They are traveling here to celebrate Thanksgiving with us! This weekend and early next week we are going to travel in the Mpumalanga area which is famous for its waterfalls and good hiking. Then we will arrive just in time to prepare for a Thanksgiving meal. We surprisingly located a turkey in South Africa (turkey is not a staple food in South Africa or Swaziland). We have been able to locate everything else except canned pumpkin (for pumpkin pie) and french fried onions (for green bean casserole). We're going to share our US holiday with some South African and Swazi friends and there will likely be a fair amount of improvisation with dishes, but I am looking forward to the challenge. We'll update when we have internet access about how our trip goes!

Bulungula, Wild Coast

Our final destination on our epic trip through the southern part of the South Africa was brilliantly completed at a place called Bulungula, a very small village outside the electricity, mail, and telephone grids in a place untouched by western tourism. This place prides itself on using ones brains to come up with eco-friendly ways to conserve resources while still using the gifts of the earth. I know what you are thinking; “You are going to a place with no electricity, no hot water heaters, no connection to the outside world for our vacation destination? Are you Crazy?!” Well, yes we are crazy, but that’s beside the point. This place was spectacular! The Bulungula lodge was nothing more than a shack that has been turned into a haven for nature loving, free thinkers from around the globe. We were able to learn how some bright people have started using solar power for cooking, boiling water, providing hot water for showers, and providing a bit of light all while using nothing from the electricity grids of the world. Everything there is self-sustaining! While there we were able to speak to people from a dozen different nationalities about a plethora of topics. This place was more than the activities surrounding our visit, rather it was a place where movers and shakers from around the world could find a meeting place where internet, nice homes, an amenities of all sorts were not the priority.

Grace was able to get in on a group of people doing yoga while I had some great conversations around a big fire overlooking the ocean. Brad and Eric also met some interesting people; physiologists, surgeons, engineers, sociologists, economists, mathematicians, and all sorts of others all met here for the weekend. We were able to do some kayaking up an estuary where we found a beached whale that was decomposing on the beachside. We spoke to the owner of the lodge and he told us that after the spinal disks of the large blue whale stopped stinking he was going to turn them into chairs for around the fire. Now that’s a reclamation project!

-Ben

Garden Route Trip

Our trip to Knysna, a quaint vacationer’s town on the coast, gave us 4 days to relax, hike, and take in some great food. We stayed in a place called Brenton-on-Sea, a beachfront village just to the southwest of Knysna, at Chantalle Vorster’s (a new friend we met in Pretoria) holiday home. We spent 4 days at her house, but used this location as a home base for all the hiking and sight seeing we did in and around Kynsna. We hiked the Heads, two massive hills that constrict the water prior to entering into a large secluded bay, on our first day of our visit, which still gave us time to have dinner out. We have found that eating out in this country is not nearly as expensive as it would be in America. In fact, if we choose moderately priced restaurants we can eat out for the same price as eating in. Obviously, we have found ourselves eating out quite a lot lately!

We also had a great hike in the Tsitsikamma National Park. We hiked a 10 kilometer trail along the ocean called the Otter Trail, a widely renown trail worldwide. Along our hike we were able to see massive fissures in the rock where the power of the ocean has been eroding the ground for millions of years to create massive cave structures overlooking the ocean. Our hike came to an end at a 200+ foot waterfall falling into the ocean. This was a sight to behold! Please see the pictures for visual stimulation!

-Ben

Gondwana Game Reserve

We got to Gondwana Game Reserve on Saturday, November 6^th by the graciousness of Will’s parents who own a home in the private game reserve. This is a Big 5 game reserve close to the ocean in the middle of South Africa. The game reserve sits on 25,000 acres of pristine untouched parts of the countryside overlooking the ocean on one side and a great mountain range on the other. Our house sat in the middle of the reserve with no one within 5 miles of our location. The mountains in the distance provided picturesque views that have reminded me of places such as Colorado and Idaho yet has a character all its own. This place gave me a peace that I’ve only felt in 2 other places in my life. I definitely will not forget this place.

-Ben

More New Photos

More new photos are up of our trip through South Africa. We are finally to the end of our trip and it was amazing! More blogs are to come detailing our adventures. In the mean time, check out the slideshow on the side!

-Brad

New Photos!

Check out the new photos of our most recent adventures along the southern coast of South Africa! (Click on the slideshow on the left)

Cape Town!

We got to Cape Town on October 30th and boy were we astounded at its beauty! This trip to South Africa was brought on by a need to go to Human Affairs in Cape Town to get an extension on our travel visas. Since we had to drive so far to do all this, we decided to make a trip out of it! We stayed in Cape Town for 6 days and we filled up every day!
Day 1
First we went to a community market in the heart of the city. We picked up a few cool things and then met up with our good friend Stewart Jackson (met him in Swaziland, from Scotland) for a lunch and some beach time. We also traveled around to some of the famous wine estates in the valleys around Cape Town.
Day 2
we hiked the famous Skeleton Gorge up to the highest point on Table Mountain. This was quite a strenuous hike, but it was so worth it! We hiked up a waterfall for the majority of the trip which made it pretty slick, but provided awesome views. While coming down from the summit, we decided to jog down. This wasn't one of our finest ideas as our joints were hurting pretty bad by about the midpoint. We tried to do a bit of recovering by sitting in the Kirstenbosch Gardens on the side of Table Mountain. These gardens are considered the finest gardens in the whole of Africa. They span a massive area and provide excellent views of the mountain range while giving its visitors the fabulous sense of peace and tranquility. The flora and fauna of this place was breathtaking! We ended the night with a great meal in downtown Cape Town.
Day 3
We got up at 5am in to get to Human Affairs really early so it wouldn't kill the rest of our day. This was not fun! We waited from 6am till 7am until the doors opened got in at the front of the queue and after R450 in money spent to get a new visa we found out that we would have to come back in two days and do this all over again to get a paper that would let us travel legally throughout the country while we waited for our new visas. The rest of the day was spent driving down to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. This was an amazing trip just stopping by this little sleepy towns, getting coffee on the waterfront, and finally, getting to our destination at the bottom of the continent!

Day 4 We spent this day on the beach (or on quiet a few beaches actually) then for some awesome ice cream. This was our day spent nursing our aching bodies after our hike up Table Mountain.

Day 5 This day was used to visit some of the downtown areas including the District 6 Museum (famous for the struggles during Apartheid). At 4pm we met at the Cape Town Royal Yacht Club because we had been invited to crew a 42ft sailing yacht in an evening Competition Regatta in the Atlantic Ocean. This was so awesome! Our jobs included manning the ropes when tacking, watching for points on the horizon-line for positioning and directionality and moving from one side to the other to ballast the boat. We didn't come in first, but thankfully we didn't come in last! I haven't had so much fun in a long time! Grace, Stewart and I were on one boat while Brad and Eric were asked to help crew on another boat due the some of that boats crew missing a few members.

Day 6 We went back to the Human Affairs office to get some paperwork then we were off to Hermanus, a small town on the cliff sides overlooking the ocean. A great place for whale watching!

More to come soon!
Ben

Whale Watching in Hermanus

On our trip through South Africa we stopped over at Will Mapham's (friend from Swaziland) parents home. The house is on the side of a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in a section of the country famous for its whale watching. Right Whales from the Antarctic come up to this area to breed and hang around for a couple months. We only had a couple of days here, but we tried to make the most of it. Walter Mapham (Will's dad) welcomed us so warmly and made it feel just like home! We walked around the town a bit and took in some whale watching with him then went back to have a great Pakistani-Curry meal before finishing the night off with some drinks around the fire watching the sun go down.
The next morning we woke up at 5:30am for a "Sunrise Swim" in a natural stone pool just beside the ocean. Cold is an understatement! Nonetheless, it was a great morning swim which woke us up for the rest of the day. We did some more sightseeing then headed out to our next destination; a private 5-star game reserve (also free due to our good friend Will Mapham!)

Ben

I call the backseat middle with my feet on the hump!

Friday, October 29, 2010


Currently, as I type, we are driving down to Cape Town! This exciting trip down to the Cape, along the Garden Route, and then back up the western coast of South Africa has been a long time in the making. Brad has sincerely researched, planned, and hooked us up with a great itinerary. We will keep you updated with all the adventures we encounter. Thankfully, Eric’s investment in a white Toyota Camry Gracia has made it possible for us to have a car for all our traveling. The car works great and it has a large boot (trunk), and we figured out how to stuff it full!
I have been truly excited about this foray into South Africa for a few reasons. First of all, I am so excited to see more of this beautiful country about which we have heard so much. Also, I am very excited about a change of pace. Though I am enjoying teaching and our lives are not very stressful in Swaziland, I am feeling the pangs of homesickness more and more and this will be a very welcome distraction.
I don’t know if you are interested in mundane details, but here goes. We left yesterday (Thursday the 28th) at 2:00 pm after Eric finished surgery. We made it to the border quickly and encountered some unfortunate news. Despite all our efforts to find out what we needed to get an extension for our visa and despite all our informants stating that we had to do nothing and would have no problem, we were only given a 7 day extension for our South African visa. We tried to talk with the border guard explaining our situation and that we would certainly be leaving their country in 1 ½ months. Though we were very calm and respectful we decided it was time for us to move on when the guard stated that we were asking her to do something illegal, her eyes started to bug out, and she started quoting immigration law (“Let me explain this very clearly, statute 94.7.01 in subsection B states that ….blah, blah, blah”). We thought we would just take the 7 days. Basically, this means that we have 7 days to either return to Swaziland or go to a South African Home Affairs office, pay R425 per person (about $60-$70), and apply for a visa extension. Obviously only having 7 days to return makes our 3 week stay in South Africa kind of tricky. So, we’re going with option #2 and hoping they’ll grant our extension!
Well, we made it into South Africa safely after only one joking comment from the guard patrolman saying that we were hiding 3 people in our trunk. We drove all evening and arrived at our Bed and Breakfast around 10:00 pm (in African time 10:00 pm feels more like 1:00am). It was a quaint and lovely place with extremely comfortable beds. Unfortunately, we only enjoyed them for less 5 ½ hours as we awoke at 3:30 am so that we could be on the road by 4:00 am for our 14-15 hour drive. The trunk was literally stuffed, so we had left our luggage in the car. We all slept in our clothes and had a quick morning departure. Thankfully, the B&B had some tea and homemade rusks (dry, dense scone-like food that you dip in hot tea—sounds unappetizing, but they are really quite delicious—Thanks to Vicki and Francois for introducing us to the delights!) that we enjoyed for our early morning pre-breakfast before leaving at 4:00 am.
This morning we were able to enjoy a stunning sunrise for the first leg of the trip. When we stopped for cereal at a rest stop at 7:30 am, it felt very satisfying to have already been on the road for 3 ½ hours. Now we have been traveling in beautiful country down through the Free State and the Karoo National Park. Here there are vast miles of undeveloped prairie and mountainous land. The blue skies combined with the golden land and green scrub make it feel very much like the American West, and it has been lovely. Except for some annoying construction stops and the hyper-vigilant border guard, our trip has been pleasingly uneventful. Well, enough for the mundane….I’ll fill you in when something interesting happens!

-Grace

Our Three Week trip around South Africa!

On Thursday, we will be leaving Swaziland for 3 weeks to do some traveling through South Africa. We will have a bunch of stops on the way, from Cape Town all the way on the sea shore around the horn of Africa. It should be quite an experience! It's been nice having some connections in the country because we've been hooked up with many places along the way to stay for free. We will be staying on a five-star game reserve in a personal chalet on the side of the mountain, visiting waterfalls along the way, stay in an awesome house in Cape Town right on the beach; staying in an awesome house right on the beach in Knysna, hiking Table Mountain, whale watching, visiting the wine country, going to the Cape of Good Hope, spending a lot of time on the beach and enjoying the wonder of SA's coastline. We also have some people that are going to (hopefully) take us out on their yacht for the afternoon! Going to be a crazy trip.

We'll have sketchy internet on the way, but we will try our best to keep you up to date!

Ben Counseling in the Community and with the Government

To those who are following my adventures into Developing World counseling, I thought I would fill you in on some news. I have been working in the community with the Government of Swaziland on developing new initiatives for bringing HIV/AIDS counseling into rural communities. Mostly, I've been sitting in meetings, but coming up after our trip, we anticipate further community counseling. Not part of the government work I'm involved in, I have been meeting with a teenager and his parents this past week. HIPPA doesn't look too kindly on my divulging of any information about the patient, but I can tell you that the child has really stretched me! Not only is the language barrier a challenge, but the reason the parents have pursued counseling for the child is out of my league! Many times I've thought, "Wow, I'm just not prepared for this!" But then someone reminds me, "This is Africa! If the child doesn't get assistance from you, they won't receive any!" Even a little help is better than no help, so I continue with our sessions! I covet your prayers in this matter!

I have so many things on my plate right now, but all of them give me so much joy that I am excited to wake up early in the morning to meet the new challenges of the day! This is truly a dream of mine being lived out!