Last summer, Melanie Stoll began her quest to go on an 11-month trek with The World Race, a missionary organization based in Atlanta. After earning the more than $17,000 she needed to provide pay for travel, lodging and food, this North Carolina transplant left Wyoming and the U.S. on quite an adventure.
You may read her blog at melaniestoll.theworldrace.org if you’d like to follow along and look at photos she has posted there. For those who don’t have access to the Internet, below are excerpts of what she has blogged so far. Once the column is caught up on the dated submissions, her blog will be run here as they come in so anyone who is interested can keep up with the young lady’s adventure.
This is Part 6 of an ongoing series chronicling Stoll’s travels.
Feb. 2 – The day God sent an angel
The best thing about the World Race is that we get to see God move, more often than not. I don’t think it’s because it’s the World Race, but because we have to rely on him for literally everything from money to travel accommodations. That’s the way it should be, of course, but many times we tend to think we have everything under control and don’t need any help. LIES. Life would be so much easier if we always just asked for his help, because he always comes through. I mean it says, “ask and you shall receive.”
Read on if you want a real life example from my point of view...
So at the end of the month in Zimbabwe, the whole squad met up for debrief, team change, and to travel together to our fifth country, Botswana. We have a great logistics team that spends endless hours researching travel accommodations that fit the budget. They always do their best to find something that isn’t miserable (African public transportation horrors).
We had an 11-hour drive time to get to Gaborone, Botswana, but estimated 16 hours to include getting across the border and stops along the way. There was a total of 22 traveling and our logistics team found us a 22-seater private bus with a trailer (to lug our bags) that could get us across the border. Two people ended up sitting on boxes because the driver’s seats were included in the 22.
We left Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, around 6:30 a.m.
We made it to the Zim/Botswana border around 3:15 p.m. and the whole squad got passports stamped within 30 minutes of arrival. All we had to do was wait for the bus drivers. We waited, and waited, and waited. Eventually one of our bus drivers finally approached our logistics team and told them that they were missing a paper for the bus and Botswana would not let them in without it. I watched our squad leaders, logistics, and mentors grab hands, bow their heads, and ask God to come through and show a miracle. A few of us others immediately threw up some prayers as well, asking the Lord to get us into Botswana. Within 20 minutes, an empty 30-passenger van, a trailer in tow, pulled up. Logistics ran over and asked if he could drive us to Gaborone. He said that he could arrange transportation for all of us! He turned to walk away, and on the back of his shirt, in large letters read, “ANGEL.”
Y’ALL! How amazing. God has a great sense of humor.
The new bus arrived, we dipped all our shoes into a nasty, unsanitary solution to ward off hand, foot, and mouth disease, crossed the border, and departed five hours later.
We arrived in Gaborone, Zimbabwe, at 6 a.m. and our host picked us up around 6:45 a.m.
We got to our ministry location about 25 hours from our starting point.
It was long and exhausting, but I am SO excited for the next couple weeks of work.
I love my new team and couldn’t ask for a better group of gals to spend the next couple months with! Their blogs are located on the left side of my page under “Meet my team.” Subscribe to them to get their points of view on a journey we are sharing together!
Feb. 13 – Life in the desert
We are currently in Botswana in a small village called Kumakwani, population 3,000, but possibly more goats than people. It is about 30 minutes outside of the capital, Gaborone. It’s smack dab in the middle of the desert! The temperatures get in the high 80s and 90s Fahrenheit in the afternoons, but it is nearing winter time so it cools off nice in the evenings.
Our hosts are an American couple, Jeff and April. We love them a lot and they are quickly becoming like our African parents. They own a small restaurant/bookstore called In Touch Cafe. The food is the bomb due to their past history of owning and managing restaurants in Florida. Jeff and April’s main ministry is through the books they sell, and they run the food side as a way to cover book costs.
They also run a small aquaponics greenhouse system. Jeff has found that this is the best way to farm since water is scarce and this system uses less of it by continuously recycling it. They have two large greenhouses full of maize, strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, basil, lettuce and thyme, to name a few. One side of a greenhouse is also used to hold tanks for a couple hundred talapia! Jeff has taught himself everything, and has become very knowledgeable about aquaponics farming over the years. They use the farm as a way to self-sustain as well as employ a few men from the village to teach them work ethics and money management skills.
We start the day around 7 a.m., three of us typically working in the greenhouses and two of us helping at the cafe. There is always something to do like cleaning the foam boards (used to hold plants), transplanting, trimming, planting, cleaning, cow pie picking, compost turning, etc. Because we are in the desert, there is nothing but sand, hence the reason for making our own compost. After we are done farming in the afternoons, we walk around the village inviting people to different events held at the cafe.
On Wednesday evenings we host a worship session, Fridays are Bible study, and Saturdays are movie nights for the kids.
Sundays we go to church and help April with Sunday school.
Last week, Jeff took us to visit the village chief. We took a picture with him which he requested to be hung on his office wall, an extreme honor for us.
The chief is responsible for dispensing justice for everything except rape and murder. Those types of offenses are sent to the city for the large justice system. The chief handles all other crimes as well as miscommunication among villagers.
Wi-Fi is a once-a-week thing, if that, so I hope all is well!
I can’t believe this is our last month in Africa but it’s been my favorite one yet!
Feb. 23 – Raining miracles
Life in the Kalahari Desert is how you’d expect a desert to be. Hot and dry. Rainey season is just getting started so rain is still a rare occurrence.
Recently the city shut down the main water line for maintenance leaving the village of Kumakwane waterless. No promise of when it will be back on. We have been blessed with a fairly large water tank that was half full, 5 days ago. Because of this water shortage we try to be wise with our usage. Simple things like washing dishes once a day, trying for 1 shower a week, and if it’s yellow let it mellow, go a long way in conservation. Unfortunately the rest of the village doesn’t have the means for a tank.
Every morning before work, the team comes together and we pray for whatever we feel drawn to. Yesterday morning (Wednesday), we asked God to provide the water necessary to help the village manage until the water line is back on. That afternoon on a clear day, a huge storm blew in and dumped water on the desert, and a day later, it’s still raining!
Along with the people of Kumakwani, we have set buckets and tubs out to collect the rain water and they are overflowing with H2O!
I’ve come to expect answers to my prayers, but I’m still always filled with amazement when I see the Lord come through in such clear ways! You just have to ask and you will receive!
In other news, communication to everyone at home is really rare this month. The team and I are alive and well and loving the farm life. When contact is limited, it helps you realize what people really mean the most to you. It took this trip for me to realize that my mom is one of my best friends :) So since this is my only way to tell her... Hi mom! I love and miss you.
Feb. 26 – Africkan love you!
I had no idea I would love Africa so so so much. It kinda breaks my heart to know that I have one week left in this great place.
