Coming Together

Saturday, July 31

Airports are wonderful places. Sometimes planes are on time. Sometimes they are not. Sometimes one’s luggage arrives when one arrives. And sometimes it does not. Our flights were all on time. The connection from Johannesburg to East London was actually early. Unfortunately, not all of the luggage arrived with us. Sarah’s luggage remained in Johannesburg. This occasioned a quick trip to a soon-to-close clothing store in order to have clothes to attend church the next morning.

We were met on time by Byron Jonas, owner operator of the transportation company, and our guide. Byron and his cousin Monte are wonderful: very accommodating and friendly. We were also greeted by Katherine Beckett, a UCC chaplain from Ohio who has spent her three month sabbatical leave from the palliative care department of a hospital outside of Columbus, to work with the Samaritan Care Center in East London, that provides palliative care for the residents of the neighboring “temporary settlement” that suffer from HIV/AIDS and other ailments. It was nice to meet and to share a meal with her

We were very happy to get to our hotel, overlooking the Indian Ocean, and to meet our German and South African fellow trippers. We were the last to arrive. Walter Schneider, known to many New Yorkers that have been involved with our Conference partnership with the EKHN in Germany, organized a crew from our group to walk the 1 ½ miles to the nearest supermarket to buy groceries for our breakfast in our hotel rooms. We’ve rented 4 suites capable of accommodating 6 persons in each. Each has a kitchenette and plenty of room to gather as a large group.

With the gradual arrivals and other errands that needed accomplishing, we didn’t go out to eat dinner until 8:00. We found a place overlooking the ocean, the Terraza Restaurant that provided a nice meal for us. After a very long series of days and a good meal, we walked back to the hotel, dispersed to our rooms and promptly fell fast asleep (after a very refreshing shower, for me, at least!).

Blessings,

Rick Cowles