I'm at Seatac airport. Hard leaving Lucas. Lib took me to the airport. Lots of tears for both of us. Hard to be going to far away with limited contact. I am out of practice with this adventure stuff!
I am flying from Seattle to San Jose, CA today. I will spend the night with a V-day board member named Amy Rao tonight. We head to the plane tomorrow morning for the flight.
"The plane" refers to the Google jet we are all flying on to Congo. Crazy, I know. Wendy Schmidt (wife of Eric Schmidt, founder and CEO of Google) is on the board of V-Day. The Schmidts also have their own family foundation an arm of which is called the 11th Hour Project. They are currently funding several efforts in the Central African region. So, the Google plane is headed there with their foundation team, V-day board members and staff, 5 doctors from Mayo clinic, a handful of supporters (like me) and 10,000 pounds of medical supplies and essential items for the women at City of Joy.
We leave CA tomorrow at 11am. Fly to London (land at 5:30am London time...they are 9 hours ahead of us). We refuel and change crew then head to Burundi. It's a well-known no-no to fly into the DRC. It is notoriously dangerous...fatal actually. So, into Burundi we go. Spend the night and then drive 2-3 hours into Congo.
I feel rather numb at I sit here at my gate...my flight is delayed...surrounded by all of these other travelers. I also feel very alone. This feels like a very big journey for me. So much unknown. Lots of deep breathing and trying to stay in the moment.
I am looking forward to staying with Amy tonight. She kind of took me under her wing as soon as I was invited on this trip. She is full of love. She will be a great comfort to me tonight.
Time to board. Gotta go. More to come.
lots of love, ME
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