We are in the US!

- October 01, 2019

It has been awhile to write as we left Zimbabwe on August 30^th and arrived in the US on August 31^st. We flew Harare to Johannesburg to Dubai to San Francisco and 26 hours later arrived at home in Santa Rosa, CA.

Less and all the than 12 hours later Major was on a plane to go to Wichita, Kansas to present at Countryside Christian Church. He arrived in Jetlag but managed to present well and flew on to Seattle, Washington on Tuesday the 3^rd of September.

I stayed in Santa Rosa to see my urologist here and get going on some pre-op things. On the 5^th of September I flew to Seattle and Cheri Gail and Major met me at the airport and then a few minutes later Major’s daughter, Carolyn, flew in for 3 days from Kentucky where she is in college.

We spent 2 days getting ready for our auction and on Saturday night the 7^th we had our fundraiser from 6-10 p.m. It was so fun seeing many old friends and alumni from Chidamoyo. There were silent auctions and then live auctions and then raise the paddle and dessert dash!

We raised to date over $230,000 and more is still coming in! We are so thankful to Larry and Cheri Gail for hosting this event. This was our 5^th one—held every 2 years! They have set up a Friends of Chidamoyo fund to help sponsor our work. We are buying 2 vehicles and some bulk diesel to begin with! Thank you to all who donated and came and even those who bought tickets and couldn’t come!

After the auction we spent a week in Seattle visiting many organizations like Washington State Global Initiative at a TB meeting! How exciting to hear that the goal is to wipe TB out in the world by 2030!

We got to spend a day at the Washington State Fair with Sarah, Kendra and Lisa—PT instructors who have come to Chidamoyo. We ate corn dogs, did some rides and watched kids riding sheep! Major enjoyed seeing the cows and learning about dairy cows—his next project in Zimbabwe!

We had a special dinner put on by the owner and chef of Terra Plata restaurant in Seattle for all the people who came to work on our Waiting Mothers Shelter in 2015-2016. The owner was one of our visitors too! What a delicious and wonderful meal we had with Chidamoyo alumni!

We visited and I spoke at the School of Nursing at University of Washington. We also spent a day with friends and Chidamoyo alumni Pam and Jack Johnson who took us to a wonderful museum of history about Seattle and to UW to walk on the beautiful campus!

We then went to dinner with PT students who had visited us in 2018 and now were graduating and starting their first job.

Then as one of the auction items we cooked a dinner for a family of sadza and all the trimmings. We had a wonderful time with them talking about Chidamoyo and our life there. They also won the first copy of “Sadza for the Soul,” soon to be published!

I am breaking up the trip into 3 parts so that I can attach the pictures. So, stay tuned for more adventures in the US with Kathy and Major!