South Africa

Sunrise boarding from Johannesburg

Off to see the Veitch family in Bloemfontein. Always lovely to see them, having watched the boys grow up in Malawi and SA. At the beginning of August, they had a fire due to a solar inverter that torched the garage (lots of storage) and made the kitchen quite useless. Insurance still hasn’t come through and so they are making it work but haven’t been able to start any rebuilding and of course it’s a challenge. But they were gracious as ever. 

 The pack that greets you upon arrival to the house (4 Ridgebacks and one that doesn’t realize he isn’t)

Pets out back!

Couple of games of settlers in which my numbers weren’t rolled often enough!

Church’s 32nd birthday celebration dinner (I didn’t understand the service but think the party was postponed due to COVID)

Rwanda (2)

 

On Monday I spent the morning at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. With lots of information about the genocide of 1994 as well as what led up to it and followed it is a heavy but beautiful place. There are over 250,000 victims buried there. I had learned about it during college and this seemed a refresher and still shocking. It was also interesting to realize that I was meeting people who had lived through that time. It wasn't as far back in the past as I would like to believe. There is also space in the memorial showing of other genocides both past and current. There has been lots of work done in Rwanda with speaking truth and reconciliation and taking responsibility.  

The stained glass is done about the genocide and leading up into the light after the tragedy. There are flowers on the graves that seem to go on for quite a ways. 

I then walked to the memorial for the Belgian peacekeeping soldiers who were killed then. The bullet holes in the building where they took shelter and tried to survive have been left and stone pillars erected along with the information as to how they hunkered down and held out as long as possible. 

The next two days I got to relax and hang out with a 15 month old Czech girl while her mother drove and picked up her two sisters from school. Then a walk in the neighborhood surrounding the hospital with them as Isabelle was working at making glasses for patients. We would then have a late dinner when the hospital work was done for the day, play a game and go to bed. Then it was time to head to South Africa!

>

Rwanda

I took off from the Asheville airport and flew (or hung out in airports) for the next 24 hours. (Asheville to Newark to Brussels to Kigali)

I arrived after dark and Isabelle was there to pick me up! Oh what a reunion after 3 years! We met in Nkhoma, Malawi 12 years ago and she moved to Rwanda 6 months ago. I got to be her first visitor. 

She introduced me to Paul who is a colleague at the Rwanda Charity Eye Hospital. We loaded my bag into the Land Rover and headed through town. The feel of Rwanda is both similar and totally different than Malawi. The architecture is similar. There are still many people in and on the streets, traffic seems only semi regulated as to who has the right of way. But then you notice fewer animals in the roads (ok we were in the city but even when we left) and the fact that there is little to no trash on the ground. Rwanda has made plastic bags illegal and it is obvious. Also the speed limit is 60 km/hr and have speed cameras set up along the way. The fines from the speed cameras go to the national healthcare fund not to police. 

Isabelle is an optometrist at the Rwanda Charity Eye Hospital and keeps very busy (as does everyone there!) She did take Saturday off (mostly) and after Umuganda (mandatory last Saturday of the month cleaning of public spaces) we headed to Lake Kivu and Rwiza Village. Beautiful place, great chalets, dock to jump into the water, and a view of sunset (though the clouds came in and blocked the end)

.

My jet lag kept me up and I heard the rain and saw the lightning when it started at midnight. Sunday was cool, cloudy, and rainy. So we had breakfast and moved to have lunch and check out the higher end hotel (Cornoran Lodge) since we weren’t going to swim in the rain. Great afternoon of games and the rain stopped as we drove away and back to the hospital. 

I'm off!

I want to let you know that I'm going to Malawi once again with Marion Medical Mission, and will leave at the end of this month. For the past 2 years, because of Covid, the MMM African staff has continued to install wells without the 'help' of American volunteers – in fact they completed more than 6,000 wells! This year I get to go back to rekindle friendships and help bring clean water to villages where that has been just a dream.

I'm leaving on August 25th to visit friends in Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe before heading to Malawi on September 18th to volunteer with Marion Medical Mission. I'll help install wells (drive and greet) for 3 weeks, returning on October 10th.

I thank you for your past support and ask again and most importantly for your prayers while I am away. If you would like to help with my expenses, tax deductible contributions can be sent to Marion Medical Mission with "Jessi Stitt trip expenses" in the memo line (1412 Shawnee Dr. Marion, IL 62959), otherwise you can send a check to me at 203 Tomahawk Ave, Blk Mtn, NC 28711. (My banker-*thanks mom- will be able to deposit even after I'm gone.)

I will do my best to update this blog while I am there so that you can follow along.

Know that whatever form your support takes, I am very grateful. Peace, jessi

Mission trail

San Elizario Presidio Chapel (presidio is a military outpost. This one was from 1684. present chapel completed 1882)

The El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (Royal Road of the Interior) ran from Mexico City up to Santa Fe linking missions, communities, military forts and trade routes. In El Paso there is a 9 mile segment with 3 mission chapels on it. Angela and I went for a visit. We weren't able to go into San Elizario (very early hours) but got to walk around the area where there is lots of history...the jail that held Billy the Kid (who escaped), art shops, market etc.

Socorro (founded 1680)

The alter is made of wood but painted to look like marble (very well done). The beams above are mostly original with some of the painting still visible. There is a replica of La Pieta in the new chapel next door.
 

San Ysleta

Ysleta is one of the oldest towns in Texas. The chapel was rebuilt in 1907 after a fire.

 

Phone calls

After the intake and COVID test we walk them to the other side of the warehouse. On the way we pass through the Comidor where we eat at 8am, 12, and 6pm. We pass the Cuarto de Salidas (Leaving Room) where we meet before the shuttles arrive to take guests to the airport or bus stations in order to give them a little more information, tickets if we've printed them out, coats if they are headed north, and a travel bag with food for the journey. Then past the office-the brains, where we take ticket information and decide which shuttle people will leave on, give out OTC meds, answer questions and try not to drop any of the many balls. Then we lead into the phone call area. 

There are three tables at the front and we try to have three volunteers to help make the phone calls. While the wall they look at while waiting is not too bright with color...the three other walls have bright murals.

During phone calls we call sponsors-family or friends-who are waiting for our guests. We explain where we are and where to buy tickets from. We let them know when we have free shuttles and when they would need to get a taxi, depending on the timing of the travel. I would explain to the guest first and then call the sponsor. I would offer for them to talk to the sponsor to explain (as they can speak better than I can) but usually they want me to speak first. Sometimes the sponsor speaks English, and other times I use the script in front of me. And it works.  

Sometimes our guests have already contacted their people from their own phones. Some of them are going to get picked up the same day by friends or friends of friends in town. We get to walk them to the door and witness a reunion. Hugs and tears and it is one of the most beautiful parts of what we get to do.

Mount Cristo Rey

 On one of my days off, Angel and I went to the Mount Cristo Rey monument just over the New Mexico border.  It was the dream of Fr Lourdes Costa, a local parish priest in 1933. There were earlier less permanent crosses before it was dedicated in 1939. The pathway up has these blue crosses as the stations of the cross. Angela is Catholic and asked if I would mind if we said the prayers as we ascended. I have seen different representations of the stations of the cross but never really done them. We used the videos from catholic.org. We shared our life stories and travels in between the crosses and then would pause and listen and then recite the prayers. (I think I got the prayers I didn't know to begin with after the 14 repetitions.) I enjoyed the fellowship as well as the in depth prayers about what Jesus was going through and how it could relate to our lives now. It was a moving experience.

The Mount is also very close to the border with Mexico. Once we were on the ridge and other side from where we started the hike we could see the wall.  It cuts right through what is mostly desert. You can also see it run through the city. There is a constriction in my chest when I see it...man-made division, trying to divide.

the one who watches over. It is quite an impressive statue-arms outstretched. When we were at the monument, there were also two border patrol agents who had climbed up (not following our same path).

Dinner that night was at Kiki's Restaurant with Angela, Kathy, Connie and myself