The Long Awaited Journey

This morning, we began our long awaited journey to Mufindi! I was hoping my foot would’ve been a lot better today, but it really wasn’t. The swelling had gone down a little bit but it was still very painful. We first headed back to the University to pick up the rest of our luggage before hitting the road to Mufindi. We drove for about 2 hours until we hit Mafinga, where we stopped from lunch. From Mafinga to Mufindi, it took us almost 3 hours on a dirt road. Normally it wouldn’t take this long, but the road conditions are so horrible since it is rainy season. When we finally arrived, I was just amazed at how beautiful it is. There are chai fields everywhere coming into the village that are so green and vibrant. We went straight to the volunteer house where we are staying, which is called Protea. It’s named this because of the trees outside the house have Protea flowers growing on them, which also happens to be the national flower of South Africa. From the outside, our house just looks like any other normal house, but on the inside it is almost like a log cabin. Upstairs is the kitchen and living room / lounge type area where there are games, a fireplace, a lot of books, etc and then downstairs are all the rooms. Brett has his own room and then Renee, Julia, and I are sharing a room that has 2 double beds and a bunk bed. After dropping off our luggage, we took a walk to see the guesthouse where Paulo is staying and to Jenny and Geoff’s house where our new director Justin is also staying. So far, it’s amazing here. It’s so beautiful and I can’t wait to actually get started with everything.

Our Volunteer House

The View From Our Balcony