Africa!!

So a couple weeks ago, I got really down about how Jimmy was gone again, mostly because I realized that even when he comes back, we only have a few more weeks together, for the rest of the year. I always knew this, but it didn't really hit me until just recently. Well this made me do a lot of thinking and I decided that I should do something worth my time when he is gone. That is when I had this epiphany that I should go to Africa to do volunteer work and the more I thought about it, the more excited I got. So, I went online to do some research and looked at many different programs and groups that offer these different volunteer opportunities. I even called a bunch of these organizations and left emails, etc. Well, then I thought, if I really were to go, it would probably be smart to go with someone.And the first person I thought of was Jill. Jill was my best friend from Utah and my roommate (for those of you who don't know). She was one of the ones to come visit me in NY. Also, her brother has been to Africa like 5 times. Anyways, I called her up and asked her what she thought about going and she actually said, she thought it was a great idea!

Well to make this story short, we found this amazing looking organization called village volunteers and filled out the application to go this summer. Well, two days ago we got back our responses which gave us the green light. They put us into a specific program in the organization called, Mama na Dada, which means mother and daughter. It is in Kenya and sounds awesome! There is several volunteer opportunities offered for this program but we we were told that we will mostly be working in the circle of hope daycare, with kids who need help because most of their mothers died or are dying of AIDS.

Also this program, Mama na dada sounds like it has a lot better accommodations than some of the others because there is bottled water provided for us, we get our own hut to live in with mosquito nets for our beds, and there is a flush toilet. Most of the places, don't have this. So that is really nice. There is also electricity, although, the closest internet access to us, is 3 hours away! lol but I'm sure we'll manage.

Anyways, Jimmy and I discussed it yesterday and decided it was manageable and okay and then, Jill and I talked about it some more and we both decided that we definitely want to go ahead and go! So we are looking at plane tickets now for around the middle of June to the middle of July. We will be staying there for four weeks. So I AM SO EXCITED! There is still a chance that something might not work out, and I am going to start praying about it to make sure it is the right decision but so far we are in the clear! I really hope everything works out!

The program also allows you to take small trips on the weekend and they even provide a safari trip. So we will be doing that. We also are looking into going to Victoria Falls, and I am hoping to get to go to the coast of Kenya and put my toes in the Indian Ocean! So we will see! But I just wanted to share with you this exciting possible opportunity in my life!You can click here, CIRCLE OF HOPE DAYCARE to view more about Mama na Dada. There is a video with some of the kids. It makes me tear everytime because my heart goes out to these children. I want to be apart of helping these kids out so bad.