SA Reflection

Now that we are back in 'civilization', if you will, it's a bit of "reverse" culture shock...

We flew out of Maputo and said goodbye to Pieter this morning, and landed here in Johannesburg, South Africa at 10am. Shortly after checking in to our hotel (essentially there is no difference between this hotel and a Mariott or Double Tree back home) Dad and I took a walk around the city in search of food.

One of the things Ryan said when we went on a run during an evening in Sena was, "When I go back home after spending months out here, it's overwhelming. It's just sensory overload." And in a way, Joburg is no different than the big cities in America... which is tough. To go from doing humanitarian aid work out in the bush for two weeks, to now back to basically first world standards has been difficult emotionally...

One of the questions David, my dad and I have been wrestling with over the past couple days is, "What now?" or "What next?" How can we take what we've seen and experienced back to the states in an effective way... the last thing I want is to have taken this trip, come to Africa, seen the 'sights', met the people, been involved in villagers lives, take some photos, then leave and hide the memories away in a scrapbook. What we've experienced has had a big enough impact on my life, as well as my traveling companions that we are trying to figure out how to best be involved for the long term with the 3 programs/people we've been impacted by...

The 3 boys in the photos are from a village in Sena where we went to visit a patient who was very ill from HIV/AIDS. What a humbling visit...