We are in Zimbobswe!

After 47 hours of weary travel, we arrived in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Thank you for your many prayers.  Our trip was fortunately, uneventful and ALL 13 bags arrived unscathed!  It took about half an hour to get our VISAs and collect our luggage. We were then escorted right through customs without even being checked (that’s amazing). The boys were exhausted (as were we) and had reached the ends of their ropes by the time we arrived.  But in the van heading to the guest house in Harare, they seemed to perk back up as they took in all the scenes around them: people carrying things on their heads, animals and trash by the road, different trees with beautiful flowers on them, and yes, they even had diggers and dump trucks working on the sides of the road here too!  As we arrived at the gate to the TEAM compound, where we will be temporarily staying for orientation, little Christopher leaned out the window yelling to some Africans, “Hello everyone, my name is Christopher!” Whatever our weary minds were thinking, this little burst of excitement put our minds back in the right place. 

We were greeted by no electricity, and have had it on only at nights (after we are in bed) and then it goes off again when we wake up.  Welcome to Africa!  It is VERY hot here, even at night. The heat is the biggest adjustment we are currently trying to cope with.  We are meeting with different people each day to learn things about the Shona culture and language.  Please continue to pray for our adjustment and health, especially as we head out to Karanda at the beginning of next week.  They say it is even hotter there!  This Friday we will get to be a part of the Operation Christmas Child shoebox distribution to street kids here in Harare.  We are thrilled to get to experience this!  We are so grateful for the kind hostess we have here, Sue Rousseau, from TEAM (the organization Karanda Hospital is under).  She has been an enormous blessing to us in these jet-lagged days.  We pray our hearts will join little Christopher’s words as we face each new challenge, “Hello everyone, we are the Kidwells!”

Our tired, tired little boy just couldn't make it a minute longer waiting to board our final flight from Johannesburg to Harare!