Clara's Big Adventure
Visit our photo page and select "Clara's Big Adventure" for pictures for this entry - CLICK HERE
Last week I wrote an e-mail to some friends and family relating the homesickness that the girls were both feeling one night at bed time. Someone wisely wrote back that we cannot expect the good without the bad. The heights and depths often come hand in hand. How true this is - We so often want dessert without having first eaten our (fill in with your least favorite vegetable). So, if last week was a low point, the last 5 days were the mountain top.
Clara and I departed Friday morning for a 7 hour drive to Chipata in Eastern Zambia to deliver Care Kits to our volunteers and to meet up with a World Vision U.S. film and journalist team who were arriving to capture a day in the life of a HIV/AIDS & Orphan Caregiver. It was a beautiful drive and just being away together 1 on 1 was a gift. We met up with the team Friday evening and on Saturday morning went out to meet the people whose stories we would be working to capture. We met Caregivers who every week are out serving in their communities caring for those who are sick and for the children who have been left behind. Their dedication as volunteers facing daunting circumstances is nothing short of remarkable. Watching Clara take it all in and really "get it" was amazing too.
Saturday afternoon we drove a rough 3 hours from Chipata to South Luangwa National Park, a remote and beautiful place that has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. We arrived at the camp we were staying at after dark and were accompanied by a guard to our tent overlooking the river. As we were unloading our things he said do not come out of your tent tonight there are "naughty" elephants wandering through the camp and the hippos (which kill more people in Africa than any other animal) will be out of the river feeding. Let's just say that Clara DID NOT need to hear this. I made it clear to the guard that we understood and that we would rather wet the bed 10 times than come out of our tent. I "reasoned" with Clara as much as an exhausted 8 yr old would "reason" that if it was really that dangerous, then they wouldn't let us camp here, right? That didn't work, but the long day took over and she finally fell asleep to the distinct sound of hippos grunting in the river. At 2:00 a.m. I was suddenly awakened in the PITCH BLACK of the tent with a sensation that something was not quite right. There was a sound I've never heard before that was like a giant eating a bowl of grapenuts RIGHT outside the tent. I lay there thinking two things: 1) I am so glad Molly can't see this and 2) Dear God, PLEASE do not let Clara wake up and scream and get us trampled to death here in this little green tent in the middle of nowhere. The Grapenut eating hippo/elephant slowly meandered away and I fell back to sleep. We woke up at sunrise to lions in the distance and elephant and hippo tracks 10 feet from our tent. Sunrise also brought an eager, excited little girl who was ready to see Eden... (For all the moms reading this, please know the guard was watching over us all night and we were safe.) We went out with a guide that morning and saw more animals than we could count (see photos). It was a wonderful gift to experience this with Clara.
We headed back to Chipata and on Monday went out with the film crew and journalist to begin capturing the story of our caregivers. At one point Clara played for an hour and a half with 20+ village children. I kept peeking out at her and each time was amazed that this little girl from Edina was in a village in Africa playing games with kids whose backgrounds could not be more different than hers. It is a gift and privilege to be here and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity. Watching Clara play with these kids boiled everything down to the essence of what we were created for - TO LOVE & BE LOVED. My little girl was giving/receiving both and it was a reminder to me that I need to daily ask God to remove the crap that complicates things and keeps me from living in this reality.
We returned home to Lusaka today and it was great reunion with Molly, Bennett and Mackenzie - we all missed each other. May God bless you with the mountain tops that make the valleys make some sense or at least not seem so dark.
Grateful today,
Jeff and the Dykstra Fam
Last week I wrote an e-mail to some friends and family relating the homesickness that the girls were both feeling one night at bed time. Someone wisely wrote back that we cannot expect the good without the bad. The heights and depths often come hand in hand. How true this is - We so often want dessert without having first eaten our (fill in with your least favorite vegetable). So, if last week was a low point, the last 5 days were the mountain top.
Clara and I departed Friday morning for a 7 hour drive to Chipata in Eastern Zambia to deliver Care Kits to our volunteers and to meet up with a World Vision U.S. film and journalist team who were arriving to capture a day in the life of a HIV/AIDS & Orphan Caregiver. It was a beautiful drive and just being away together 1 on 1 was a gift. We met up with the team Friday evening and on Saturday morning went out to meet the people whose stories we would be working to capture. We met Caregivers who every week are out serving in their communities caring for those who are sick and for the children who have been left behind. Their dedication as volunteers facing daunting circumstances is nothing short of remarkable. Watching Clara take it all in and really "get it" was amazing too.
Saturday afternoon we drove a rough 3 hours from Chipata to South Luangwa National Park, a remote and beautiful place that has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in Africa. We arrived at the camp we were staying at after dark and were accompanied by a guard to our tent overlooking the river. As we were unloading our things he said do not come out of your tent tonight there are "naughty" elephants wandering through the camp and the hippos (which kill more people in Africa than any other animal) will be out of the river feeding. Let's just say that Clara DID NOT need to hear this. I made it clear to the guard that we understood and that we would rather wet the bed 10 times than come out of our tent. I "reasoned" with Clara as much as an exhausted 8 yr old would "reason" that if it was really that dangerous, then they wouldn't let us camp here, right? That didn't work, but the long day took over and she finally fell asleep to the distinct sound of hippos grunting in the river. At 2:00 a.m. I was suddenly awakened in the PITCH BLACK of the tent with a sensation that something was not quite right. There was a sound I've never heard before that was like a giant eating a bowl of grapenuts RIGHT outside the tent. I lay there thinking two things: 1) I am so glad Molly can't see this and 2) Dear God, PLEASE do not let Clara wake up and scream and get us trampled to death here in this little green tent in the middle of nowhere. The Grapenut eating hippo/elephant slowly meandered away and I fell back to sleep. We woke up at sunrise to lions in the distance and elephant and hippo tracks 10 feet from our tent. Sunrise also brought an eager, excited little girl who was ready to see Eden... (For all the moms reading this, please know the guard was watching over us all night and we were safe.) We went out with a guide that morning and saw more animals than we could count (see photos). It was a wonderful gift to experience this with Clara.
We headed back to Chipata and on Monday went out with the film crew and journalist to begin capturing the story of our caregivers. At one point Clara played for an hour and a half with 20+ village children. I kept peeking out at her and each time was amazed that this little girl from Edina was in a village in Africa playing games with kids whose backgrounds could not be more different than hers. It is a gift and privilege to be here and I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this opportunity. Watching Clara play with these kids boiled everything down to the essence of what we were created for - TO LOVE & BE LOVED. My little girl was giving/receiving both and it was a reminder to me that I need to daily ask God to remove the crap that complicates things and keeps me from living in this reality.
We returned home to Lusaka today and it was great reunion with Molly, Bennett and Mackenzie - we all missed each other. May God bless you with the mountain tops that make the valleys make some sense or at least not seem so dark.
Grateful today,
Jeff and the Dykstra Fam
posted by The Dykstra Family at 3:16 PM
1 Comments:
Dykstras:
I have been touched by your stories, but I have to say the hippo outside the tent was one of my favorites! It makes my bear outside the tent in the BWCA experience seem trivial. I am glad you were safe - keep up the good work.
Bob Radecki
Post a Comment
<< Home