When you tell people that you're planning to take time off work to have adventures and try your hand as a humanitarian, they have lots of opinions on the matter. Mostly positive ones. Sometimes they have their own charities they recommend. And sometimes it gets their very own brain thinking things over and then they tell you that they have a friend that runs a children's camp in Malawi and that a group is going there in June, and gosh, why don't we all go?
But wait! There's more. The June expedition didn't get enough volunteers so they nixed it and lumped those folks in with the April expedition. Well by golly, Brett can go in April! "Well great," I thought, "Let me just check my wedding calen..."
I can't go. So now Brett and Erik are headed to cage dive in Cape Town prior to spending two weeks at the camp in Lilongwe. Then they have a three day safari thing, and then they fly home through Cairo. What an adventure. I am SO excited for them. I'm also terribly frightened but I've had time to work on the phases of grief and have accepted the possibility of life as a young widow.
Brett has been to Africa before. He spent a chunk of time in Tanzania while Jeff was there with the Peace Corps, so Brett isn't nervous at all. Erik is also probably not very nervous because everywhere Erik goes he makes friends and finds money. (Mom and I have decided he's not a real person.) So really, all of my fear is wrapped up in the idea that they won't be worried enough to keep themselves safe. And then I think about about how wonderful that must be and what a great time they will have. Even if they get lost, mugged, kidnapped and sold to the Russians, they'd both have a great attitude about it.
Look at these two. What could possibly go wrong?
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