The GSK PULSE program allows for each abroad volunteer to have a week long home visit sometime throughout the duration of their assignment. I arranged mine for the middle of October, which was about 2/3 of the way through my stay in Ethiopia.
My flight from Addis Ababa took me straight to Washington D.C. with one quick stop in Rome only to refuel and to switch flight crews. We left Addis at 10:20PM and arrived in D.C. at around 7:30AM local time. The total flight time was 16 hours, which is clearly not a short trip. Many of the people returning to the States were carrying Ethiopian babies that they've just adopted to their new homes. There must have been 10-15 on that particular flight. Surprisingly, they weren't bad travelers. They hardly made a peep and were rather well-behaved even through that long flight in such close quarters. I hope for their parents' sakes that they remain in that temperment.
Funny story. I was sitting in the Addis airport at the gate when I overheard a girl who seemed to be around my age speaking with one of those really, really chatty guys that somehow seem to find you when you're most exhausted. Anyway, thankfully that guy talked as much as he did because I heard this girl tell him that she was Pennsylvania.
After Mr. Yappy had gotten up to board the plane, this girl and I both waited until the end of the line to board. I asked her if I had heard correctly that she is from Pennsylvania. Yep. Then I asked which city. Harrisburg, but her parents live in Somerset, a town close to St. Vincent. I told her I went to Saint Vincent for my undergrad degree. So did she. WHAT?! She was two years ahead of me in school - she graduated in 2005 while I graduated in 2007. Her degree was in political science; mine was in a different science - biology. We knew a ton of the same people, both SVC-associated and from elsewhere, including my hometown. It was pretty comical that I went to the same very small college with this girl for two years and never met her. Yet I found her in an airport in Africa. Go figure.
She was on her way back to the U.S. from a trip to Tanzania where she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro as a fundraiser for kids living with AIDS in the U.S. She said that she raised 10,000 U.S. dollars, which is amazing! Climbing that mountain is no small feat. It is over 19,000 feet or 5,790 meters high. It's the highest free standing mountain in the world. The air is thin at the top, which requires oxygen tanks and masks to be used. Hmm... Good for her. Not an adventure for me, but many people opt to do that while in Africa. I'm too chicken, I guess...
When I finally landed in the U.S., the plane actually arrived about an hour early. Since my cell phone is out of commission until December, a guy who sat next to me on the plane offered to use his. So, I called my brother, Joe, since his is the only number that I knew by heart. He served as the middle man between me and my parents, who were actually the ones who would be picking me up. He relayed the message that I was early and where to pick me up. It worked.
Mom and Dad found me at the Washington Dulles aiport and took me home. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the way where I ordered a salad. My dad thought I would have some kind of elaborate and expensive meal or something, but little did he understand that fresh vegetables were the most glorious of foods to me at that point. I was so elated to eat a salad with spinach and other veggies along with grilled chicken, not to mention to drink water that did not need to be out of a thrice-sealed bottle.
They took me home to our family farm where a few things have changed in 4 months. My youngest sister had not yet returned home from her military training, so I did not see her. My grandfather had fallen ill since my departure, so my parents have brought him to live in their house. He is rather weak and sick and finds himself in and out of the hospital from complications associated with his failing heart. He is in my parents' room. My parents have moved upstairs to Nick's room. Nick has moved to Nattie's room in her absence. And when she returns, she'll be joining Renee in a room that they will be sharing until further notice. I'm sure they won't like that very much, but one must adapt in order to survive in that house...
I stayed at the farm for about 5 days. In that time I slept (jet lag), visited with family and friends, took care of some bureaucratic blah blah, helped Joe celebrate his 25th birthday, and took some pictures that I promised the folks back in Ethiopia. Life on the Kennis farm isn't perfect by any means, but it's what I still call home even though it's not where I spend most of my time normally.
After spending 5 days with my family, I made my way to Philadelphia. This is where I work and live. I stopped in at GSK to see my home team and had a little bit of a show-and-tell picture slideshow. I also visited with some co-workers and did a bit of work for my project for MVP from there.
I visited with the Norristown Missionaries of Charity nuns a bit and helped them with their soup kitchen one day. On my last day in the States before returning to Addis Ababa, I attended Mass at the church where I lead the teens. It was so great to see "my kids" and everyone at that parish. That particular day, kids and adults were making hundreds of sandwiches for a soup kitchen in Camden, New Jersey as they do one Sunday every month.
Pictures from the church activities and of Philadelphia are below.
I left the U.S. from Washington D.C. on another non-stop flight back to Addis. It was much more difficult to say goodbye the second time, even though I will only be gone for 8 weeks before finishing in Ethiopia. I did my best not to be so excited while I was home in order to somewhat smother my temptation to become comfortable while there. Nonetheless, bidding adieu again presented quite the challenge, partially because it may have been the last farewell to my grandfather. Hopefully he and I can both make it to Christmas .
My flight from Addis Ababa took me straight to Washington D.C. with one quick stop in Rome only to refuel and to switch flight crews. We left Addis at 10:20PM and arrived in D.C. at around 7:30AM local time. The total flight time was 16 hours, which is clearly not a short trip. Many of the people returning to the States were carrying Ethiopian babies that they've just adopted to their new homes. There must have been 10-15 on that particular flight. Surprisingly, they weren't bad travelers. They hardly made a peep and were rather well-behaved even through that long flight in such close quarters. I hope for their parents' sakes that they remain in that temperment.
Funny story. I was sitting in the Addis airport at the gate when I overheard a girl who seemed to be around my age speaking with one of those really, really chatty guys that somehow seem to find you when you're most exhausted. Anyway, thankfully that guy talked as much as he did because I heard this girl tell him that she was Pennsylvania.
After Mr. Yappy had gotten up to board the plane, this girl and I both waited until the end of the line to board. I asked her if I had heard correctly that she is from Pennsylvania. Yep. Then I asked which city. Harrisburg, but her parents live in Somerset, a town close to St. Vincent. I told her I went to Saint Vincent for my undergrad degree. So did she. WHAT?! She was two years ahead of me in school - she graduated in 2005 while I graduated in 2007. Her degree was in political science; mine was in a different science - biology. We knew a ton of the same people, both SVC-associated and from elsewhere, including my hometown. It was pretty comical that I went to the same very small college with this girl for two years and never met her. Yet I found her in an airport in Africa. Go figure.
She was on her way back to the U.S. from a trip to Tanzania where she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro as a fundraiser for kids living with AIDS in the U.S. She said that she raised 10,000 U.S. dollars, which is amazing! Climbing that mountain is no small feat. It is over 19,000 feet or 5,790 meters high. It's the highest free standing mountain in the world. The air is thin at the top, which requires oxygen tanks and masks to be used. Hmm... Good for her. Not an adventure for me, but many people opt to do that while in Africa. I'm too chicken, I guess...
When I finally landed in the U.S., the plane actually arrived about an hour early. Since my cell phone is out of commission until December, a guy who sat next to me on the plane offered to use his. So, I called my brother, Joe, since his is the only number that I knew by heart. He served as the middle man between me and my parents, who were actually the ones who would be picking me up. He relayed the message that I was early and where to pick me up. It worked.
Mom and Dad found me at the Washington Dulles aiport and took me home. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant along the way where I ordered a salad. My dad thought I would have some kind of elaborate and expensive meal or something, but little did he understand that fresh vegetables were the most glorious of foods to me at that point. I was so elated to eat a salad with spinach and other veggies along with grilled chicken, not to mention to drink water that did not need to be out of a thrice-sealed bottle.
They took me home to our family farm where a few things have changed in 4 months. My youngest sister had not yet returned home from her military training, so I did not see her. My grandfather had fallen ill since my departure, so my parents have brought him to live in their house. He is rather weak and sick and finds himself in and out of the hospital from complications associated with his failing heart. He is in my parents' room. My parents have moved upstairs to Nick's room. Nick has moved to Nattie's room in her absence. And when she returns, she'll be joining Renee in a room that they will be sharing until further notice. I'm sure they won't like that very much, but one must adapt in order to survive in that house...
I stayed at the farm for about 5 days. In that time I slept (jet lag), visited with family and friends, took care of some bureaucratic blah blah, helped Joe celebrate his 25th birthday, and took some pictures that I promised the folks back in Ethiopia. Life on the Kennis farm isn't perfect by any means, but it's what I still call home even though it's not where I spend most of my time normally.
After spending 5 days with my family, I made my way to Philadelphia. This is where I work and live. I stopped in at GSK to see my home team and had a little bit of a show-and-tell picture slideshow. I also visited with some co-workers and did a bit of work for my project for MVP from there.
I visited with the Norristown Missionaries of Charity nuns a bit and helped them with their soup kitchen one day. On my last day in the States before returning to Addis Ababa, I attended Mass at the church where I lead the teens. It was so great to see "my kids" and everyone at that parish. That particular day, kids and adults were making hundreds of sandwiches for a soup kitchen in Camden, New Jersey as they do one Sunday every month.
Pictures from the church activities and of Philadelphia are below.
I left the U.S. from Washington D.C. on another non-stop flight back to Addis. It was much more difficult to say goodbye the second time, even though I will only be gone for 8 weeks before finishing in Ethiopia. I did my best not to be so excited while I was home in order to somewhat smother my temptation to become comfortable while there. Nonetheless, bidding adieu again presented quite the challenge, partially because it may have been the last farewell to my grandfather. Hopefully he and I can both make it to Christmas .
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