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!