READY...SET....GO!

After arriving back in Canada from Togo, West Africa last June we have definitely made our way around the country. Covid extended our stay in Canada by almost 4 months. Due to the unreliability of flights and the fact that we have travelled with most of what we own, we opted to do most of our travelling by land. If we seemed a bit red-eyed, this could be why:

• We travelled 4200km across Canada and back.
• Jesh travelled 1300km to North Carolina and back to help load a shipping container of supplies
• Jesh travelled 600km to southern Alberta and back
• Our family travelled 500 km from Vernon to Vancouver and back twice.
• We moved 1000km from Kingston to Northern Ontario while we awaited visa paperwork and then moved back.

But after all this....we will finally be departing for Madagascar on Feb 9th!!!

We have learned that travelling during a pandemic is no a small undertaking with special paperwork, visas, protocols and travel arrangements. Again, we find ourselves in a living room surrounded by bins though we felt a new country deserved a new colour so instead of our typical yellow lidded bins, we have opted for red. 

Julie has been packing each bin carefully. She recently reminded me that when she packs, nothing breaks. Sadly, I hold the record for the lone broken item. She truly does hold this record and this will be her 5th international move with around 15 suitcases/bins of checked luggage. If there was medal, she deserves it!

As for the kids, they have decided they are ready to leave snow having happily experienced -30C in Northern Ontario. Again, even there, they learned how God has provided friends wherever they go. Recently, they had a video call with two other children their age who have recently arrived at the hospital in Madagascar and are anxiously awaiting their arrival. We are so grateful that God has given them good friends wherever we have been.

And so on Sunday we got our first set of covid tests, Monday will be a second set. We really need them to be negative so that no flight/accommodation changes need to be made. 

There are a lot of logistical dominos lined up to get us half way around the world.

Getting to a country that has basically banned all international travel as it turns out is a challenge. We first fly to Ethiopia, then to a small island off the coast of Madagascar (still open to international travel), then we take a Mission Aviation Flight (MAF) to the hospital where we will drop most of our luggage spend one night and then proceed the following day to the capital 500km away to get visa paperwork and some household things not available at the hospital. We will then return by air with MAF and stay permanently at the hospital around the beginning of March.

Is this whole venture risky? For sure! So many things could go wrong. But our faith motivates us to plan for the best, prepare for the worst and trust that God directs our steps… 

The reality is, while people are dying from a pandemic we can do little about, a lot of people are suffering and dying from illnesses we can do a lot about. This is the reason we choose to go.

Covid is not very conducive to a nomadic family and we appreciate the many people who have made it possible for us to spend these last 8 months in Canada.  

There are a lot of exciting developments at the Good News Hospital which we will update you on soon...

Jesh