Thursday Feb 2, departure day ...
I woke up to the sound of a water fall. Seems like a pipe to my air conditioner had broke and water was falling like rain on the desk. After turning the unit off and mopping up, I surveyed the damage. Fortunately, none of my things were wet so I packed everything up. As usual, I kept all the important things like my passport, camera, and cash in a backpack that was always with me. I went up for breakfast and then I thought I'd take a few more pictures. No camera. I went back to the room, thinking I must have forgotten it. I looked everywhere ... completely unpacked everything, looked under beds, shook out the blankets, and nothing. I felt sick thinking that I had lost all the pictures, some which I had taken for Heidi. I finally resigned myself to the conclusion that the camera had been stolen from the room, since it wasn't uncommon for hotel staff to drop in several times a day. After repacking, I took the luggage up and checked out. Since I nothing else to do while waiting for the others to check out and our driver to arrive, I started rummage through a sports bag that I searched at least twice, and found that the camera had somehow become hidden in the lining material in one of the pockets. My outlook for the day brightened considerably! Apologies to hotel employees for my dark thoughts.

The 2 hour flight to Johannsburg was uneventful, as was the 5 hour layover before the flight to London. That flight is 11 hours, but I actually managed to catch a few winks and felt reasonably awake when we landed.

Friday Feb 3 ...
After landing around 6:30 am, we made our way from Heathrow to London via the "tube" to St Catherine's Academy. It was an unscheduled day so we were free to do some sight-seeing. Bev's husband George joined her at this point and they invited me to accompany them on a tour of the famous landmarks downtown. Many thanks for their company and for being my "guide", since this was my first visit to London. We wrapped up with a pub dinner and turned in early ( we had been up about 36 hours by that time).

Saturday Feb 4 ...
This was "debrief day". I won't bore you with the day's agenda other than to mention the 90 second speeches we each gave to tell what the experience meant to us personally. In my case, I mentioned what it means to go from an armchair understanding of Third World Development to actually seeing it first hand. My hat is off to the SACCO movement in Malawi and the foundational role they play in helping the people of that beautiful country to improve their lives. They are wonderful people of vision.

The day concluded with a group dinner at a local pub. Many pictures were taken and farewells said, then back to the Academy to go our separate ways the next day.

Sunday Feb 5 ...
A few of us used cabs to get back to Heathrow rather than drag our luggage through the tube system again. I think I could figure out the tube system if I had to, but I'd rather not do it with 75 lbs of luggage! My flight left at 2:25 pm and I arrived in Vancouver at 4:45 pm, making it a 2 hour flight. NOT!

I arrived back in Campbell River about 7:30. So good to be met at the little airport by Judy and Kaitlyn. Home again!!

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In concluding this blog, I want to thank the Canadian Cooperative Association for accepting me for the Africa trip. Thanks to the Malawi Team for their patience in dealing with my inexperience in this venture. A huge thank you to the wonderful people I met in Malawi, for their genuine welcome and kindness. Malawians refer to their country as the Warm Heart of Africa, and it truly is that. Thanks to my partner, Heidi Hyokki, and for her patience in breaking in a rookie. And, finally, thanks to my loving family for their encouragement, support, and prayers that the old man could do this.  

This is the first time I tried blogging, so I hope you all overlook the mistakes. I'm going to try posting a few pictures in a following blog entry. Wish me luck!