First day in Swaziland

Today was a very busy day for us.  We flew from Johannesburg, South Africa into Swaziland.  It was a very short flight-- only about 45 minutes in the air.  Once we landed, we were picked up by Dr. Schafermeyer's collegue Kevin who was very accommodating and took all of us under his wing.  We were given a brief tour of our apartment and then hit the town for some sight-seeing.  We exchanged our US dollars for the South African Rand which runs about 10 rand to 1 USD. 

Kevin introduced us to Zakhele, a native of Swaziland who is a close friend of Kevin's and also works here at the hospital.  He kindly allowed us to travel with him to his homestead in Hhohho to meet some of his brothers, his gogo (grandmother), and his cousins.  His mother is very ill but we were also able to meet with her today as well.  This is the first time in a very long time that the family has been together.  Zakhele's mother was very happy to see her four boys.

We are staying in Raleigh-Fitkin Memorial Hospital student apartments with a nursing student from Finland named Suvi.  Tomorrow will be our first day at the hospital; and we are very excited to get started.

Hopefully our WiFi on our computers will be up and running tomorrow and we will be able to share some pictures. 

Cheers!

Travel Day

Jessica and I have safely made it through security and are waiting at our first gate to board the plane.  We will first be taking a a 2 hour flight to Detroit, followed by a 9 hour flight to Amsterdam, and finally an 11 hour flight to Johannesburg.  We will be staying the night in Johannesburg and taking a short flight to Swaziland in the morning.  We've packed plenty of snacks, movies, and books and are ready for our journey!

Bon Voyage!

Jessica and I are officially leaving for Swaziland in two days!  We are very excited for our travels and hope you enjoy reading about our experience through both mine and Jessica's blog.  You can also check out my donation page to read more about my trip or help me to raise funds to make this all possible.  We hope to blog every day or at least every other day in order to keep in contact with our friends and family.

Be sure to add me on Skype: wolf.jackie