Arrival/Tours

So, we made it all the way to Johannesburg in a total of 20 hours of flying and loads of driving, too. Unfortunately, Ed and Darelyn missed our flight from ATL to Jo-Burg because their previous one was delayed, and they had trouble getting on the next one, but they ended up getting it sorted out and flighing from ATL to Amsterdam where they had quite a long layover, and then continued on to Jo-Burg. We will be picking them up at the airport tonight at 9:45 p.m. Today, the 13 of us that were here had an amazing, thorough tour through Jo-Burg, Soweto, and The Apartheid Museum. We visited a small village in the slum where we talked with some of the kids living there, as well as their mothers--those who had them. I got some great footage of this village for the documentary, which i'm very excited about. We all were snapping pictures like crazy, which leads me to worry i'm going to have no more memory space by the end of the day tomorrow. But, we'll figure something out. To say the least, the day was amazing and incredible. Many of us are still jet-lagged, so I expect we will all be going to bed really early tonight. (I say that even as some are napping right now). Last night after getting lost about 8 times, when we finally showed up at our Bed and Breakfast, The Woodpecker Inn, we were greeted with a large and delicious barbeque which was quickly demolished by all of us who hadn't eaten anything decent in two days. The time difference felt so strange. On the plane it went from sun down to afternoon within an hour, it felt. I, along with many others didn't sleep for a single hour during the flight (i got just under 45 minutes of sleep), which benefitted us when we showed up to the Inn at 8:30, and went straight to bed after dinner.
We are all laying low at the moment, waiting for dinner time to arrive. It's nearly 5:00 p.m. and we haven't eaten since 7:30, because the tour was so busy. Anyways, after dinner I'm going straight to bed, 'cause we've got an early rise tomorrow morning as we begin our journey to Swaziland. I'll update this again when we have internet access. Thanks you guys!

Will

so long---

we're off in the morning!

just wanted to say goodbye before we left. hopefully we'll be able to update this while were abroad, but you never know what kind of circumstances we'll have. and, we'll be quite busy so i'm not sure we'll even have time for an internet cafe. anyways, thank you all for your support and donations. you all are what have made this trip possible.

we'll be updating this as soon as we return on october 1st, so check back to see how it went!

i'll keep you updated afterwards about how the film is progressing, and when you can expect it/where you can look for it. Thanks again!

until the next time,

will

travel updates

hey! we're all frantically excited to leave tomorrow, while pulling together last minute things and running around like mad people. Just a quick update—our flight tomorrow was switched due to an unrealistic layover time from ATL to Jo-Berg. So, instead of leaving at 1:30 something, our plane takes off at 9:50. so, we will plan to be leaving for SLC at 7:00 or so. Our flight in ATL is at the same time though, so we'll have a 4 hour layover or so, rather than 37 minutes. Wish us luck and check back frequently!

Schedule

Hey guys so we leave in 3 days and we are all excited beyond belief! We've raised $800 over our original goal, and we have nobody to thank but all of you out there that have supported us in this huge endeavor. Below is a schedule of our day-to-day activities that you can follow while we're gone, if you wish to do so. Thanks again—this will be a truly life-changing experience.

9/16- 

-Leave for Salt Lake City @ 9:30 a.m.

-Depart from SLC 1:35 p.m.

-Depart from ATL 8:10 p.m.

9/17-

-Arrive at Jo-Berg 5:15 p.m.

-Pick up rental cars

-Drive to Hostel, Eat, Sleep.

9/18-

-Tour Soweto

-Apartheid Museum

-Swim

-Dinner/Movie

-Sleep early

9/19-

-Early Rise/Drive to Swaziland

-Stop by Moya Centre

9/20-

-Distribute Supplies to Child Headed Households

-Hike Around Nature Reserve/Journal

-Sunday fun activity

9/21-

-Baylor Children's AIDS Clinic

-Bring Toys for kids

9/22-

-Buy Painting Supplies/Crafts

-Rebuild Garden

-Paint house

-Drive/Explore

9/23-

-Moya Centre

-Present Computers/set up hardware

-Soccer tournament with Moya Centre

9/24-

-Quad Tours around Swaziland

-Spend the night in Swazi Huts on the Mountain

9/25-

-Cultural Center

-Research

-Filming

9/26-

-Drive to Kruger National Park/get set up

9/27-

-Safari Tour

9/28-

-Self-Guided Safari Tour

9/29-

-Drive to Jo-Berg

9/30-

-Depart for ATL 8:45 p.m.

10/1

-Arrive ATL 7:00 a.m.

-Leave ATL for SLC 10:20 a.m.

-Arrive SLC 12:29 p.m.

-Organize Rides back to Orem

The Vibrant Sound in Downtown Provo

on Thursday we made another $500 at an acoustic benefit show hosted by The Vibrant Sound in downtown Provo. We had about 8 bands play and quite a few people show up for great music, art raffles, and boba drinks. So, Thanks to everyone who came out and supported our local artists, as well as The Kaiizen Foundation. We're still working hard on fundraising all the money we need for this trip and we're down to a couple thousand. Donations are still welcome and much appreciated. T-shirts are also still on sale in all designs. Keep it comin' folks.

will