Gardenia Primary School Visit

This morning we went to visit one of the schools from my research project in the late 90s--Gardenia Primary School.  The children here are beautiful and eagar to learn.  In 2005, we sent over 5,000 books to the school that previously had only about 400 in their library.  The school currently has about 1,100 students.  The administration and the staff are incredible with over 40 children per class room and no teacher assistants!  We wanted to stay all day!

Sunrise on the Indian Ocean

I chartered a yacht for the group to experience an unbelievable start to the morning.  We were on the Africa Queen by 4:15am and were among the first to experience this morning on earth today.  This is one of the pictures I took from the bow.

Whew!

Well here I am the durban beachfront.  It actually wasn't hot at all.  It was perfect!  The waves were the best part of the water today!  Huge huge waves!

Arrived in Durban

We left at 6am this morning and made excellent time!  Its almost 1pm and we are headed to the beachfront at 3pm.  The weather is gorgeous and is a welcome break from the snow in the U.S.  This is a view from my hotel room.  Jealous?

Church!

Today was a glorious day!!  We worshipped with Pastor Matilda Tshabalala and the congregation at the Christian Community Church in Kwa Thema.  We sang, danced and prayed with our brothers and sisters here and had a marvelous time in the Lord.  We are going to dinner at Nandos!  Yay!!

Busy Saturday

Well,, we arrived safely almost 4 hours late.  After waiting in NY JFK airport we had avoid yet another storm brewing over the Atlantic Ocean which caused us to lose more time.  But we arrived without incident and made it safely to the hotel.  About half an hour after arrival, we left for the orphanage--this picture shows you how the children received us. 

Flight Delayed at JFK - 2/12/10

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:30, but we are sitting here at JFK enjoying the good company and conversation.  Everyone is excited and ready to board the plane!  We are scheduled to depart at 2:00 EST.