Less than one week left on this amazing adventure… although, once I get back to NoVA I think God will have another great adventure for me at home or abroad, plus I’m sure that just because I come home, doesn’t mean this adventure is ending! I must say that there are things I’m going to miss from Lubumbashi once I get home… but no running water and not having water at all (when the pump to the well breaks) won’t be one of those things!! :) I also won’t miss the constant power-outages… I’m sitting in the dark right now, was just lucky to have my laptop charged so I could get a few things done…
I’d like to thank the following companies for their assistance in getting me through the summer:
The Coca-Cola Company- for Dasani, Coke, Sprite and Fanta (yes- I have been drinking pop this summer- that’ll have to stop once I get back to the US)
REI- thank you to all the folks who purchased items from my registry to prepare for this trip! All items have been used and have been very helpful!!
Laughing Cow- for providing pre-packaged cheese that I could treat myself with (Julie- I’ve had very little cheese this summer, you can only guess how much I’ve missed it!!!)
OMO- This is the soap used for hand-washing clothing… I’ve gone through at least a handful of packages!
the makers of Pepto-Bismol, Tums, Cipro and Malerone- won’t get into an explanation on this one- but if you’ve traveled abroad you know that these products are your friends!
Cadbury- this seems to be the main chocolate here- again, another treat I would purchase when I made it to a store in town
VodaCom & Zain- for connecting me to new friends in Lubumbashi and family and friends back home
DEET- for keeping those nasty mosquitoes away (although- I did still get bit many times, but usually only when I forgot to put on the bug cream or bug spray)
USPS- for getting most of the packages that were mailed to Zambia where they were picked up and brought up to DRC – some more packages will probably arrive after I leave
Polyset- a company that makes many plastic products… I worked my upper body daily by carrying their buckets full of water to my room and used them a few times a week for washing my clothes
BBC- for keeping me up to date on world news
Many companies who make antibacterial hand gel, foam or wipes- for killing germs!
I’m sure I’ve probably forgotten some companies, my apologies! I thank you all for your support this summer and, to those of you who I supported b/c I purchased your product- You’ve very welcome!
Also- to share a quick story- you might think of this as a God thing or you might think it’s just a coincidence, that’s up to you, but here it is: I, very unintelligently, brought only one pair of cheapish flip-flops with me, the other shoes I brought were tennis shoes and a few nice pairs of sandals. As you can probably imagine, I wore the flip flops often, mainly around the center, because of the dirt, etc. The other day, those flip flops broke… I thought “well, I’m leaving in less than two weeks, I’ll survive.” Later that day I picked up a load of boxes that had been sent to me from the US… I was going through them and got to the box from my sister… in it was a pair of flip-flops (with a design from a TV show I like none-the-less!) How cool! I was close to tears. I called and left her a message to let her know how much those flip flops meant to me :) So that’s my DRC flip flop story!
Have a blessed day!
Peace & Love from DRC!
R
My lovely family