Did you see that?

We have enjoyed our time in this country immensely. In my opinion, the key to the low stress level of our daily lives is Ruth's willingness to drive us everywhere we need or want to go. If we had to drive in this insanity or take a taxi every time we left the house, it would be a whole different trip! The donkey carts, bicycles, motos, and cars all "share" the roads, which are often more like rugged dirt lanes and the traffic rules are more like suggestions (red light = stop, if you feel like it). We are happy to watch it all go by as passengers and spend our drives enjoying the African lifestyle.....

Plate glass on a moto, anyone?

Travel info. for the next trip, whether that be yours or ours......

My favorite item that we brought: Granola bars

Edwin and Chrissy loaded us up with boxes of granola bars and we have handed them out on the streets, to beggars (like the precious little girl on the right), and to neighborhood children. The biggest smile I've seen the entire trip was looking back as we drove off at a young boy at a traffic stop. He'd tried to sell us tissues and we handed him a granola bar instead and I'm so glad I glanced back to see, it made his day! If I had to leave everything else at home, I'd still fill my bags with granola bars.

What I wish we'd brought: Pillows

Yes, bedding is provided at our house, so I should be thankful, but it feels more like sleeping on a long sack of flour than a pillow.

Immunizations:

Philip and I had the Hep. A & B series, polio and tetanus boosters, typhoid and the required yellow fever shots. We did it in three visits over 8 months.

The kids caught up on the routine immunization schedule, plus had meningitis, typhoid, and yellow fever shots. For them it was five visits over the course of a year.

Malaria preventative:

Philip and I are taking Malarone and the kids are taking Pediatric Malarone. It's expensive ($700 for our family, even buying some of it over here to save money), but we haven't had any side effects and, most importantly, we haven't had malaria.