The semester is over!!

Plans are coming along for me to travel to Honduras and work in a hospital doing Public Health Training. I am super excited. This semester has finally come to an end. Mom was right....the older you get the faster time flies!! Only 1 more semester to go and I can't wait to be finished.

~A

Been a While!

I had a great, life changing time in Zimbabwe. The past few months have been spent working on my MPH. Once that is completed (August 2010 hopefully!) I would love to travel back to the beautiful country of Honduras and work in a children's home that I was blessed to visit in 2005. Plans are in the works and I hope to have good news to share.
It's amazing what you can see when you really open your eyes. My wonderful neighbor had established a non-profit while I was in Africa. Braids n beads....a non-profit that travels to low income apartment complexes and braids young girls hair for free all while teaching self-esteem. Amazing isn't it. Please check out her website. braidsnbeads.com
Find your passion and become involved! We all have a life that's worth living so get out there and live!!

~Alicia

Things are going GREAT here in Zimbabwe!!! I am sooo excited to share all that is happening but you must wait a little longer!!! I am now officially 24!! I celebrated my birthday like a princess. High tea and chocolate tarts at the Nesbitt Castle. It was so fancy! I even poked out my pinky when I sipped my tea! :) yipee!!
I am trying to learn some Ndebele and it is so hard. It's so amazing to see a young child that can speak 3-5 languages and I still struggle with my English! :) But it is going well, I can greet people!!! Oh well, believe it or not I am at a lost for words!! Till next time!!

Tootles,
~A

My lotion doesn't work in Africa!!!

Oh man....I'm so use to the 90 degree 100% humidity weather in Texas! But here, 70 degree 0% humidity!!!! That's right.....ZERO PERCENT!!! My poor skin is suffering. It all began with the daily routing of applying my cocoa butter lotion from the states.....5 minutes later and I'm ashy again. So, I do the natural thing and put on some more. STILL ashy! So Sherrie suggests that I buy some body butter, it's suppose to be sooo good! I use the body butter...ashy again within 10 minutes. Long story short, now I take a bath with body oil, apply cocoa butter, body butter AND straight glycerin! Geez!! Now my hair is beginning to suffer from the dry air! I never thought I'd miss the humidity of Texas but right about now I sure could use some moisture in the air.

Dry skin aside, I've been learning to drive a standard truck! This is a huge accomplishment for me since I've never driven one in my life. Add the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the truck, and you've got some interesting times! It's coming along quite well and I am getting the hang of it. I'm still quite nervous to tackle the round about so we'll wait a while for that one.

Another big update....I am no longer in Tutume due to unforeseen issues. But now I am more excited than ever. Bethany Ministries has some great projects lines up. I will be helping to establish a clinic in Zimbabwe to accommodate women and child health. I'll also work with an abandoned baby clinic and deliver much needed supplies to hospitals. Awesome things are happening!!! Stay Tuned!

~A

1 week in Tutume

Oh my, It's been such a while since I've added to the blog. While I was in Francistown we had access to free wireless internet. Here in Tutume we had to use 1 mobile modem between 3 internet users. You have to pre-pay for airtime. So during our last visit to Francistown we each bought a mobile modem for our laptops. With this type of internet, you must take your sim card from the cell phone and place it in the modem then connect to the internet. This is why my calls are sooo short. Both the internet and cell phone use "minutes" and the air time isn't cheap when you are calling overseas!

All that aside, D and I are stuggling to get use to the culture. It is more different from the US than I thought. I am praying for endurance and strength! We've only been in the village for a week but it feels MUCH longer than that. Aside from the culture, I am learning how to cook. Yesterday I plucked my first chicken then we boiled it and ate it for dinner. No, I did not kill it, I refused!!

Hopefully I'll be able to post as much as I'd like to!! Please stay tuned!

~A

Tutume

Today we finally made it out to Tutume, which is our final destination. The journey has been 5 days in the making. The host family is really sweet. They have 4 kids with the oldest being assigned to me. She will be there to help me the entire summer as well as translate when needed! I'm really excited about the things that are going to happen this summer. I will be able to meet with the Tutume district health team as well as the US ambassador for Botswana. I will also be attending various conferences and trainings. I am super excited. The area is very rural and the nearest grocery store is an hour away but I think that I can handle it.

~A

Francistown, Botswana

Today was AWESOME!! The morning began early considering I've been traveling since Wednesday night. We attended the church of the family we are staying with for the next few days here in Francistown. First service was in english and second service was in setswana!!! It was really cool to here them speak and sing in their native language. After service we went to visit some of Sherrie's friends, Tembi and Charles. Tembi was nice enough to let me help in the kitchen. She taught me how to make the staple food, sadza!! We also had greens made with tomato and onion, butternut squash and chicken. All the vegetables were from her own garden. She explained that it is soo expensive to purchase them in the store. Now it is just time to relax. Tomorrow we go to town to get sim cards for our cell phones and purchase other items that we will need in the village!

~A