Is it for them or is it for us?

Sitting here is Town Lodge outside the Johannesburg airport I find myself asking that question.

My flights introduced me to scores of people headed to Africa for some sort of service work. It was very different from the business men and women that filled the planes going to China. The largest group on Delta Flight 200 included about 50 high school girls sponsored by Spellman College, a historically black college for women outside Atlanta where would be in South Africa for two weeks. The rest of the passengers were 0overwhelming part of church groups that were also going for what seemed to be the obligatory two weeks as part of their church’s mission. My seatmate was, like me, a teacher going go work with other teacher, although her sponsor was the federal government and her area was economics. She and I seemed to be the only ones who wondered whether we were intruding on a culture without knowing what the impact would be. As we got closer to landing, I found myself wondering if we were really traveling to Africa to be of service or to fill our own needs.

As is the way with adventures like this, delays and annoyances have a way of creeping in. And as is often the way with delays and annoyances, they open new opportunities.

We sat on the runway in Atlanta for almost two hours as the maintenance crew replaced a fuel pump. Never complain about aircraft maintenance delays! As a result, we missed our flight from Johannesburg to Durban so we find ourselves sitting in a travel lodge about two miles from the J-Burg airport. The next flight to Durban was the next day at 5:30 PM via “One Time Airlines.” An interesting name that does not instill as much confidence as one might like in an airline.

As a result of the missed flight, we are heading off to the Apartheid museum in a couple of hours. Then it is off to Durban and points east so we can prepare for our work. Whether I can connect to the Internet there is still unknown, as is the question that started this blog. I believe the answer to the latter is “a little bit of both.” While we are here, I hope we remember what I learned long ago, “When you enter a new land, tread lightly, for much wisdom has preceded you here.”