That's the ticket

We've got our tickets! Its a long journey to get to Africa (well not as long as sailing around the horn) but 3 days is a long time to be on an airplane - that's three days without a bed and that only gets us to Lusaka not Ndola which is where we will be teaching. Ndola is another 6 hours or something by bus.

To Africa
SW1667 04JUL Boise to Salt Lake City 1205P - 0105P
SW1846 04JUL Salt Lake City to Denver 0345P - 0510 P
BA 218 04JUL Denver to London 815P - 1210P
BA 055 05JUL London to Johannesburg 705P 650A
SA 062 06JUL Johannesburg to Lusaka 1050A 1250P
Total travel time: 41 hours! not including bus to Ndola

To USA
BA6292 01AUG Livingstone to Johannesburg 120P 300P
BA 056 01AUG Johannesburg to London 815P 620A
BA 049 03AUG London to Seattle 305P 435P
SW 1378 03AUG Seattle/Tacoma to Boise 745 P 1000 P

With a keen eye and a little geographic knowledge you might have realized that we are departing from a different city than we fly into. Livingston is the town closest to Victoria Falls (photo or facts). We are tacking on a week personal vacation on the end of the Lifewater trip so we can experience some tourism highlights. We're hoping to go rafting! and on safari in Kafue National Park! And as an added bonus we have 1.5 days in London on the return journey. Look kids Big Ben, Parliament...

Who is Lifewater?

We love Lifewater and are really looking forward to volunteering with them in Zambia this summer as sanitation trainers. They have a great staff of knowledgeable people who believe all people have a right to safe water, effective sanitation, and improved health. Lifewater is a Christian training organization that feels that solutions to the global water and sanitation crisis come from within local communities as people take the responsibility for their own water sources in an effort to improve community health. The missing link is education. To close the gap Lifewater has trained about 250 North American volunteers (like us) who travel to other countries to train national partners. The national partners take their new skills and education to those who most need them, helping to break the cycle of disease and poverty. These partners are Christians who also share the gospel message of living water with the communities where they work. Partners are most often churches that are demonstrating God’s compassion while meeting both spiritual and physical needs in their communities. Since 1979, Lifewater and their partners have brought safe water to an estimated 1.4 million people. Lifewater trainers generally focus on one of three areas:
• Water – drilling wells, repairing hand pumps, and filtering water
• Hygiene – education on hand washing, food preparation, disease transmission
• Sanitation – proper disposal of human waste
Of these programs sanitation is the newest; we are part Lifewater’s first class of sanitation trainers.

Incidently, if you are interested in learning more about Lifewater, they are holding their annual conference in Orange, CA later this month between June 22-24th and we'd love to see you there.

Why teach about sanitation?

Proper disposal of human waste is essential in curbing water-related diseases. The Bible gave sage advice to the Jewish nation, it taught them to “designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement” Deuteronomy 23:12-13. These same steps can still protect people from illness, but there are 2.6 billion people (about 4 out of 10 people worldwide) that lack access to adequate sanitation. This results in water sources above and below ground that become contaminated and unsafe. Basic sanitation, such as using a latrine (outhouse), helps stop the spread of disease. Lifewater's newly established sanitation emphasis will compliment Lifewater’s existing programs by providing a well-rounded approach to community health. It will assist needy communities through education on disease transmission, latrine construction, repair and maintenance, and social attitudes and behaviors about proper waste disposal. Since sanitation is a new direction there is a need for trained volunteers to teach; while Lifewater has lots of volunteers to cover water and hygiene training, but we are two of their first nine sanitation trainers.