We're (almost) off!
It's 8:30 on Saturday morning, and I'm watching weather, airline schedules and my email for information related to our departure, scheduled for 12:45. After all the nasty weather last night, I have a watchful eye for weather-related delays. Jan is already in Panama, getting ready for us (and frantically searching for translators!) and my job is to get the team and supplies there today. We had our "packing party" on Wednesday, when we distributed 35,000 children's vitamins into 90 tablet ziplocks and a similar pattern for calcium tablets. Of course, there were many other meds to pack (we get most from an outfit callted Blessings International in Tulsa) and also clinic supplies (generously donated each year by Jim Manor). Everyone on the team is required to carry one, usually large, piece of luggage with team gear in addition to their personal items. After so many years, we do have a system, but it requires everyone to have their "lerts," as in staying alert--to the situation around them, to their fellow team members, and to instructions and messages related to logistics.
So hopefully around 8:00 pm CDT we will be in Panama City, through immigration and customs, and on our way to spend the night in a rather spartan area in the basement of the bishop's quarters before heading up to Chiriqui by bus tomorrow morning. If all goes well, the trip will be about 8 hours to get to Volcán, where we will have a light supper, unpack, rest, and get ready to start setting up the clinic in Bongo and tiling the floor in the church in Jacú.
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and check the website for updates.
Anne
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