On international travel

My upcoming trip to London and to Malawi will be second international trip, not counting my forays into Canada. Speaking of Canada, I should get to Canada more than I do, because the property I own in northeastern Vermont sits about fifteen or twenty miles from the border. The trip is fairly easy to make by car. The last time I spent any amount of time in Canada was about ten years ago, when times were different. We may have been able to cross the border without showing any thing more than our drivers’ license, although we each may have carried our birth certificates with us. The key point here being that we were able to drive, and it was very easy.

My first international trip off the continent was to London in 1991. I went to an international academic planning conference in Oxford England. I traveled with one of my grad school buddies, and his wife. My friend is from Cyprus, traveled on a British passport (I think), and was very familiar with London and environs because he had gone to college and his first grad school in England. So, I felt very safe. I knew how to get a prepaid international calling card in England allowing me to easily call home to the States, and I knew how to get British Pounds from my Bank. I got my passport, got some British pounds from the bank and had a couple of wonderful tour guides for the time I spent in London. Oxford was wonderful, a great city with a long history.

At least this time, I already have my passport. Since I am familiar with London from my trip in 1991, and having some friends in London, it made sense to break up my trip to Africa with a couple of nights in London. An added benefit is that my two nights in London may help me to adjust to the change in time zones. London is five hours ahead of NJ (I think), and Malawi is two hours ahead of London.

As I faced the reality of my upcoming trip to Malawi in sub-Saharan Africa, I knew that there are things about international travel that I need to learn about. Thanks to some friends, and to the Internet, I could easily find out answers to questions such as visa requirements, required shots and prescriptions, and a list of things to include in my health kit. I am fortunate to have a travel agent in the family who booked by flights and my hotel in London. He also told me about the prepaid international calling card that works in Malawi, and about an online store that has a lot of things that I will need for my trip. Finally, I spent too much time on the Internet finding out about international cellular telephone coverage. Oh, and I won't even talk about electrical connections. And yes, I do know on good authority what adaptor I need for Malawi. And it is even one that is included by Apple in their world wide adaptor kit. In case any wants to know, it is the same adaptor used in most of the United Kingdom.

The trip leader of my trip tipped me off that my ATM/debit cards will not work in the few available ATM machines in Malawi, but said that I can use my visa credit card to get cash. He has also provided me with invaluable country–related information.

Finding out these things has helped me deal with the reality of this upcoming trip. I also found this process somewhat soothing.

Purpose of Malawi Trip

Because I have written about issues related to providing a clean and safe water supply to one remote village in southern Malawi, some of my friends think that my upcoming trip to Malawi is focused on the supply of water. While I was doing background research on Malawi last spring and summer, I quickly found out about the impact of HIV/AIDs on the people of Malawi. The group that I will be traveling with to Malawi in June will be looking at the impact of HIV/AIDS on the people of Malawi. Over the years, I have known more than a few very fine individuals who have died of HIV/AIDs, and I know many who have lived with HIV/AIDs for years thanks to the drug cocktails available. So, perhaps it is all these wonderful people that is but one of the many inspirations "calling" me to travel to Malawi.

From what I understand, we will be visiting various clinics, orphanages, and other groups that are helping the people in Malawi who are either living with HIV/AIDS or living with the effects of HIV/AIDS.

Even though most of my trip will involve looking at how the people of Malawi are coping with HIV/AIDS, I do hope that things will work out for me to visit Mindanti, the village I wrote about. Certain things have to come together for this happen that are outside of my control. All I can say is, this side–trip will either happen or it won’t. No matter what, I know that I am in for an adventure.

Origins of my trip to Malawi

Last year I found that my writing took me in a new and very unexpected direction. I answered a call for articles in one of my planning magazines, Progressive Planning, for an upcoming thematic issue on social justice and water. I had become more aware of the very sad state of global water supply through my work on the Standing Commission on Anglican and International Peace with Justice Concerns (for the Episcopal Church). Not knowing where to start, I contacted the Episcopal Relief and Development Office in NYC along with several other organizations affiliated with the Episcopal Church. I was beginning to lose hope when I was put in touch with Dr. Tom Gebhard, a water resources engineer and an Episcopalian from Austin Texas. Members of Tom’s parish, St. David’s, were among the founding members of a non-profit, Warm Heart International devoted to outreach in southern Malawi. Warm Heart was then engaged in raising money to put in a well in Mindanti, a small village in a remote section of southern Malawi. Tom and I exchanged many e–mails and a couple of telephone calls over the coming months as I focused on writing my article on Malawi. The article appeared in print in December, and is called “A Bottom–Up Planning Model for a Safe and Accessible Water Supply in Malawi.”

I had the occasion to speak with a physician, Don Thomas. Don is involved in an organization called Global Aids Interfaith Alliance (GAIA), founded by The Rev. William Rankin, the former Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge Mass. Readers of this blog may remember that I wrote about GAIA in my November 14, 2006 blog entry.

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world where its population suffer from a myriad of fatal diseases: HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB, water–borne diseases, and the like. Don has been to Malawi on several occasions, leading groups each summer. We talked about these issues as affects the need for a clean and safe water supply.

After I finished my article and before it was published, I began to experience what can be best described as a “calling” to go to Malawi. Not only would such a trip give my writing credibility, but also I would be able to complete the work my father started. You see, my Dad, who died fifteen years ago, was a research immunologist with a Ph.D. in microbiology. He wrote his dissertation on one the organisms that cause the water–borne diarroheal diseases commonly known as dysentery. He was offered a post–doctoral fellowship in 1961 in The Congo in Africa. I now understand why he turned it down. There was no way he could take his young family to an undeveloped country that may have engaged in a bloody civil war.

Knowing that Don Thomas travels to Malawi each summer in connection with his work for GAIA, I wrote him at the end of last year and asked him if I could tag along with one of the groups he leads this summer. Don got back to me in early January saying that he was going to ask me if I wanted to go to Malawi. Wow, how about that! Before saying yes, I had some important questions for him. I was looking for certain answers to these questions before saying yes, I got the answers that I was looking for. God at work?

I told a priest friend of mine that I felt a calling to go to Africa and I was trying to find excuses not to go, but that I could not find any. He grinned and said that I won’t be able to.

It took a few weeks to work out all the details. I booked my plane tickets to Malawi last week. I leave on June 10.

Travel to Malawi in early summer

It is official, late last week, I booked plane tickets to Malawi in the later half of June. I am very excited about this opportunity. I will be traveling with a group from All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena CA.

I am headed out the door, literally. I will be writing more about how this trip came to be shortly and how it came about, so stay tuned.