Back in the USA!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I, and the other Week 1 travelers, have returned safely from South Africa! Week 2 travelers have also safely arrived to replace us, and I'm looking forward to hearing more about the experiences of both Week 1 and Week 2 volunteers over the next few weeks. My friend Amybeth Hale is part of the Week 2 crew, and she intends to blog during/after her trip as well. You can read about her experiences on her professional blog - www.researchgoddess.com.

Call it jet lag or call it getting older (not old), although I'm still pumped - I'm also pretty pooped. I haven't yet started to process everything that went on, nor have I uploaded the videos and pictures that I took - but hang in there with me. More to come over the next few days to share with you! In the meantime....


more animals

It's GO Time!

It's less than 24 hours until my GO Mamelodi adventure begins! And since I've still got much to do to get prepared, I'm taking somewhat of a shortcut and chatting with you via video instead of writing a post tonight. Click on this link to view the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Qh3ZPJ7xA or paste the link in your browser.

We had our "send-off" meeting tonight at Crossroads for the 200+ people going in the first week, and they shared a video from the advance team of leaders who have been in Mamelodi for a few days preparing for our arrival. If you're interested, it's about 10 minutes long, and does show some of the sites we'll be visiting and inhabiting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZX7HQC4NwA Nice Zulu song at the end too!

While you're here, if you're subscribing via email or RSS, please take a moment to go on the main blog and leave a comment! http://igomamelodi.blogspot.com (Just click on the Comment link at the bottom of this post.) I've met and heard from many people who have said they are reading the updates, but I'd love to hear from you here as well. For those of you new to blogs, one of the goals of a blogger is to have a "conversation" with the readers, and you can do that with me through your comments on the posts!

Thanks to everyone for your support thus far, and I look forward to sharing my experience, videos and pictures with you when I return after November 23rd!

Come Fly With Me! (Are We There Yet?)

Trip Itineraries and schedule details were recently distributed to the 200 folks who will be headed to South Africa Week 1 (Nov 13 - 22), and below are the exciting details:

Thursday Nov 13, 2008

Leave Cincinnati @ 10:40 a.m. on Delta 1705U

Arrive Atlanta @ 12:08 p.m.

Leave Atlanta @ 3:45 p.m. on Delta 34U

Arrive Johannesburg @ 5:15 p.m. (with a brief stop somewhere in between for refueling)

Friday November 21, 2008

Leave Johannesburg @ 7:20 p.m. on Delta 35Q (stopping again somewhere along the way)

Saturday November 22, 2008

Arrive Atlanta @ 8:30 a.m.

Leave Atlanta @ 10:00 a.m. on Delta 1702Q

Arrive Cincinnati @ 11:32 a.m.

For Week 1, there will be seven different groups of travelers flying on different airlines, out of different airports, and some with more stops, so based on our departure and arrival times, I can't complain. For the second round of 200 volunteers traveling Week 2, there will also be seven more flights leaving on the 20th, All I can say is God Bless the guy who's been planning all of the travel details for the last year. He really deserves a vacation that someone else plans!

On a super positive note, I'll be able to rack up some major Frequent Flyer miles on Delta! (I'll remind myself of that often during the long flights.) There's been lots of discussion in the trip meetings about the importance of moving around during the 18+ hour flight, and when to sleep/when not to. I've flown internationally before, but on the longest trip, where I traveled to Japan (16 hours) it wasn't so bad. The flight out of Cincy was virtually empty and I was able to commandeer an entire middle row to myself. (Sweet!) On the way back, I wasn't so lucky since the flight was completely full, but I did manage to survive, and I'm sure I'll make it through this one too.

There are lots of "DO's" and "DO NOT's" for this portion of the trip, which make sense with such a large group:

DO show up on time (3 hours before the flight) to check in with our GO Groups

DO bring your passport (Duh - but I did forget mine on the above mentioned trip to Japan and broke the sound barrier making the 1.5 hour round trip home and back to make the flight on time.)

DO NOT try to call the airline to preference your seat (window, aisle, exit, etc.). You get what you get.

DO NOT try to upgrade to First Class. We're all in steerage together. (You know somebody's going to be "that guy" and try to do this!)

And now the fun part - our schedule for the week we're in South Africa is as follows:

• Friday: Arrive. Stay at Kopanong Hotel in Johannesburg
• Saturday: Visit Apartheid Museum & Pilanesburg National Park. Move to Manhattan Hotel in Pretoria
• Sunday: Church at Charity & Faith and Tent churches. Mamelodi Sundowns game. Spend the night in a Host family home.
• Monday: Work
• Tuesday: Work
• Wednesday: Work
• Thursday: Work. End of week celebration at Charity.
• Friday: Shop at African market. Leave.

As you can see, there's a mix of cool touristy-type activities in addition to the work that we'll be doing. There are also some opportunities to enjoy and participate in the culture and the community, including the worship services at Charity & Faith and spending one night as a guest in the home of a local Host family. We're also going to have the unique opportunity to attend a Mamelodi Sundowns game (soccer), which is the first time this has ever been available to the Crossroads team. They're apparently a HUGE deal there, and likely could beat the Cincinnati Bengals (even though they play a different kind of "football"), so that should be really exciting! Personally, I'm really looking forward to the Apartheid Museum and the Safari, in addition to the work we'll be doing in the community. This week, I plan on purchasing a new/better digital camera and maybe even a Flip Video camera so I can capture all of the special and awesome moments and share them with you too!

In my next post, I'll share some of the Trip & Travel Secrets the Crossroads team has shared with us thus far, and at least one Trip Shocker that I wasn't aware of when I signed up to go on the trip! Stay tuned to find out just how vain I really am....

GO Mamelodi Fundraising Goal Met!

It's time for some BIG "Thank You's" here at Jennifer's Going to Mamelodi central!

First and foremost, I'm extremely excited to announce that I was able to reach the fundraising goal of $3,000 by October 1st! Thanks to my family, friends and current/former co-workers who were so kind to contribute finances (and prayers) towards my journey. I'm honored and humbled by your support! Personal Thank You notes are in the mail, and while I'm not sure that everyone who contributed would want to be publicly "outed" on this blog, I must take this opportunity to give a special shout out to one special person who doesn't get a choice in the outing matter - My Mom. THANK YOU Mom for your significant contributions to my fundraising efforts! You are already a blessing to so many, and I cannot thank you enough for your support of me in everything that I do!

Through the start of this blog and the communication regarding it to many of my personal and professional relationships, it was very interesting to hear back from others regarding their own volunteer efforts. At least two people also blogged about their experiences and shared them with me, including one of my high school classmates that I recently reconnected with on Facebook (Mark Kelly Hall) who visited South Africa in 2006, as well as a LinkedIn connection (Terry Brown) who went on a mission trip with his wife and 2 kids to Jamaica earlier this year though Southbrook Church in Dayton, OH. How awesome to connect with people who are giving of their time and talents to help change the world and make it a better place!

Another cool thing about communicating with others about my upcoming trip has been hearing from several people who also attend Crossroads or who know someone that does. It's a huge place, with over 10,000 people attending 4 services each weekend, so the opportunity to get to know everyone there is slim. Thankfully, there are a number of opportunities available to meet people through volunteering to serve at the church, in our community and globally - a great way to connect with others, while also helping to make a difference!

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to participate through Crossroads in the single largest service project in the history of our city called GO Cincinnati. During this one day event, over 4,000 volunteers impacted Cincinnati through various service projects in over 175 community-based organizations. Once I volunteered to participate, I had to complete a Questionnaire outlining any "special skills". For those of you that know me, you're well aware of my inclinations and preferences when it comes to outdoor physical labor, so you won't be surprised that I skipped right past all of the spaces to list special skills/interests/experiences in construction, painting, landscaping, etc. and listed what I believe to be my one special skill - "animals love me".

For some reason, my one special skill qualified me to lead a team of about 30 volunteers in a huge landscaping and cleanup project at a local nursing home. (Some obvious parallels to the interviewing/selection processes within some companies in that scenario...) Thankfully, I was able to put my recruiting and networking skills to good use, and before we were dispatched from the church to our project sites, I connected with a professional landscaper that was wandering amongst the 4,000+ people who had been assigned to a painting project and quickly brokered a trade. (Never mind that his group leader hadn't arrived yet... There's a war for talent out there people!) The photo in this post is of the Lincoln Crawford 2 team after a day of hard work power washing, digging, weeding, planting, shoveling mulch and clearing a hillside that even mountain goats wouldn't dare to climb! (In a supervisory move - I'm the one taking the picture and giving them the glory.)

I checked the calendar today, and it's 31 days till departure! I'll receive my travel itinerary this week, and I have scheduled my flu shot. If I'm feeling brave, I'll also get my other shots behind me. (We'll see about that.) Our next trip meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 20th, where they'll cover "Frequently Asked Questions". Should be some good updates to share, and thanks for continuing this journey with me!

I'm Going to South Africa!

If you're reading this first sentence, we're connected in some way - as a family member, business relationship, personal relationship, “social network” connection, or maybe I just got lucky and you found this blog by accident. No matter how you ended up here, THANK YOU for checking this blog out, and right away I'd like to request two things of you during this visit:

1. If you do nothing else - please read this entire first post.
2. Subscribe to this blog either via email or RSS if you'd like to get future updates.

My Reason For Bringing You All Here

On November 13, 2008, I'll be leaving for a 10 day trip to Mamelodi, South Africa! I'll be traveling with 199 other brave volunteers (at least brave enough to get a bunch of shots and immunizations and sign up for the 19 - 24 hour one-way plane trip), and we'll be followed the next week by another 200 volunteers. These teams are being sent through the awesome church that I attend in Cincinnati - Crossroads. I'm VERY excited about being able to participate in this opportunity to serve, give back and connect with others in another part of the world - and I want to share the journey and adventure with you!

In the past two years, through a project called "GO Mamelodi" Crossroads has sent nearly 900 team members to South Africa to serve alongside members of Charity and Faith Mission. Mamelodi is an urban township community located outside the capital city of Pretoria, South Africa. It's estimated that of the over one million people living there, somewhere between 30% - 40% of the population is HIV positive, and the majority of the people there live in extreme poverty.

While our teams are in Mamelodi, we'll be building homes, planting food, teaching and loving children, and doing whatever else is necessary to help the sick and starving. In the past, Crossroads volunteers have built infrastructure to provide healthcare services, create jobs, educate children and transfer skills to help eliminate poverty in the area while building meaningful relationships with the members of the community.

How Can You Help Me?

To send the 400 volunteers this year, it will cost over $1.25 million dollars, countless hours of travel and logistical planning, and probably more than a few glitches and headaches. Each team member is responsible for raising the entire cost of their trip, which is $3,000, and I'm excited to say that so far, I've raised exactly $2,000 towards the cost of my trip! However, the deadline for the remaining $1,000 is fast approaching (October 1st), and here's where you can help. Just as you had two assignments above, here's two more for ya:

1. Please consider contributing to help me reach my fundraising goal by October 1, 2008. You can donate easily and securely via credit card by clicking here and entering "mcclure" (without quotes) in the Donate box. Any amount is greatly appreciated, will help me in reaching my fundraising requirement, and all donations are secure and tax deductible. (You can also donate anonymously if you'd like.)
2. If you are a person of faith - even if you do not wish to contribute financially - please add both the 400 volunteers who will be going on the two trips in November, those involved in the planning and execution of the details, and the people of Mamelodi, South Africa to your prayer list.

What's In It For You?

For starters, much gratuitousness and ingratiationess on my part (hey – it's my blog, I can make up words on it if I want). Simply put – I’ll be much obliged and very grateful. I'll also be blogging at least once per week over the next 50+ days as I prepare for the trip (physically, mentally, financially and spiritually) – and well, you just won't want to miss that. (That's why you need to subscribe via email or RSS to this blog's feed.) I'll also be keeping an old-fashioned journal during the trip (like with a real pencil and paper) since there will be no wi-fi available, and it's not wise to bring a laptop. I'll add those journal entries to this blog as posts once I return. I'll also take pictures to post here as well. You’ll be able to "be there" with me, and I KNOW that some wonderful and life-changing things will be happening – in me, in other trip participants, and in the people of Mamelodi!

So please donate – and subscribe!

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Likely Future Posts:

• Jennifer the Weenie Gets Her Shots
• What Not To Wear – South African Style
• I've Been Assigned to the Gardening Team (Let's evaluate my own yard to see if that was a good decision)
• I Will Miss You My Crackberry…

(You get the picture… DONATE/SUBSCRIBE)

Questions/Comments? Hit me in the Comments section, or send an email to CincyRecruiter at gmail dot com. (Of course if you're not a spam bot, you know what that means.)