Going to Africa! - Preparations for My First Trip to the African Continent !

My next trip is coming up soon. This time I will be going with a team of women from Waterloo, Ontario. Much preparations needed to be done before our team embarks on an African trip to do some volunteer work in February, 2020! Some of these preparations include:

1. Deciding on the trip - This trip is not a cheap endeaour as all  members of the team are self funding the expenses as well as raising funds for the cause. All the charity organizations I have been involved with always require the individuals to pay for their expenses. We do not want these developing countries to bear the financial burden of hosting us during our visit there.

We had 2 packing meetings in Waterloo, Ont. for our upcoming trip

2. Getting to know my team members at the orientation meeting in Waterloo on Nov 30 and signing a waiver form.

I met my team members: Elaine, Laura, Rita, Valerie and Jenny for the first time at Valerie's house. Valerie shared a lot of helpful info with us and how she started this charity work. Very interesting indeed. I felt better after the meeting and look forward to the trip!

We received donations from some generous people & organizations

3. Getting donations and required materials for the trip- I emailed my church friends informing them of my pending trip asking them for  some donations of sewing material. Within days, my church friends responded with offers of donated material for me to take to Africa. I felt so much love and was touched by their immediate offer of help!

4. Health issues - I visited  a Travel Clinic and got all the required needles and vaccines. This alone cost me close to Can. $400.00!





5. Meeting with previous volunteers - I had a meeting with a retired teacher who went to the same trip the previous years.  The meeting with M. went very well and she gave me tons of good information. She is a fantastic teacher with great ideas!  

 I was glad that I could talk to her as I have learned how to better prepare  myself and what to bring with me for the training sessions both for the teachers and admin. staff.

Some of the packed suitcases for our upcoming trip

Removing the plastic from the supplies we are taking to Africa

6. Packing meetings - We had two packing meetings at Rita's house in Kitchener. I met my team mates for the second time. 












We got all our donations together, removed all the plastic packaging to avoid polluting the village of where we will be going and packed them tightly together.

Some of the teaching material I will be bringing to Africa.

7. Getting  Ready - I have been busy for the past couple of weeks getting my presentations and training materials ready.

I will be ready when the trip date arrives in a few days! 

R.T.
Toronto