New Team Member-- Carol Claes

Thursday, October 23

Carol Claes writes:

Hi, this is Carol Claes, arrived this morning in Bangui with the sunrise on this week’s sponsorship Go Team. Traveling with me are LeeAnn Parsons and Brenda Artrip. We have spent two nights on cramped, crowded, airplanes and one day in Paris in order to get here, but if it were all just for today, it would be worth it! Paris included a 3 hour walking tour of the airport, (that’s how long it took us to get metro tickets, boarding passes for the flight to Bangui, and finding out there is no place to store or check your carry on bags in the airport).

But we did take the metro to Notre Dame, and walked a few more blocks along streets with thoroughly charming architecture, cafes, bakeries, and storefronts. Rob and Nicole Plaster met us there and we appreciated their helping us experience their city. The café we had lunch at was a few blocks from the cathedral, so I guess you could say that we did have lunch back of Notre Dame! That only left time for the Eiffel Tower, and more Metro rides, but we feel that we got a good whirlwind tour of Paris.

So 3 sleep deprived and shower deprived ladies came to Africa and were whizzed through Bangui airport with the help of Madame Zokoe, her husband, her secretary, and a driver. They helped with forms, retrieving and carrying luggage, (we each had 2 50 # bags or trunks) and getting out of there. Thanks to their help, this was a breeze compared to the Paris airport.

We have all been truly blessed to meet our sponsored child, well actually Lee Ann will meet her girl tomorrow. It was one great big tear jerker and blessing all at once. How can I describe 100 or more children on the “porch” of the PHC Center, waiting for us to arrive and singing and clapping and smiling. I personally had a wonderful visit with our sponsored child Abigail, with more to look forward to. I could go on and tell about some of us getting left there after dark, wild rides, culture shock stories, but………. more later.