I don't like camping. Period. It's a lot of work, especially here in Botswana where it really does mean bringing almost everything but the kitchen sink. However, when our church went camping one weekend last year, I could tell from the reports afterwards that we had missed out on a really good time. So, when our church decided to go camping again this year, I told my husband, Mark, that I would give it a try. It helped that the location chosen was much closer this year -- in Mopane, only about 20 minutes from home. This meant that an escape was possible, should the conditions prove to be too trying for me or our daughter, KG.

Since my husband Colin and I arrived in Maun, our hearts desire has been to reflect the love of Christ to others around us. As our first Christmas here approached, we were yearning even more to truly share the meaning of Christ's love with others living in Maun. We began poking around in the Flying Mission storage containers for material resources for ministry, and came across just the blessing we were hoping for. One of the containers was full of boxes of baby clothes and toiletry supplies! We filled our vehicle with all the goodies we had found and returned to the FMS house to sort them with the help of our porter, Robert, and his wife Pusetso.

Boxing Day - our first in Botswana. We hurry through breakfast and drive to the Princess Marina Hospital Parking Lot where we watch with interest as a van filled with cardboard boxes is being unloaded. "Quite appropriate for Boxing Day," I muse. Eventually three heavily laden gurneys are pushed to a reception area where we're met by most of Flying Mission's (FM) personnel - career missionaries, short-termers, pilots, mechanics, administrative staff and office staff - they're all here.

Are you curious about the boxes?

We had prayed so much for rain, and it finally came. Puddles appeared!! We hadn't seen any for so many months! And last "rainy season" hadn't really been a rainy season at all. As the months of fall and winter went by, the livestock finished off all the vegetation available; many then died. Now there was hope once again!!

However, some of the rain fell hard and in great amounts. Though many people now have cement block houses,

I live in the village of Kumakwane and one day I visited the family of Mr M because he was sick.  I knew that the family would benefit from an egg each, so I brought them and explained why to the father whilst the children were standing there.  

They were very happy and hopeful to have an egg each but the father turned to them and said, “Eggs are not good for you, they will make you sick.”  However it seems they were perfectly good for he who was sick! 

For being homeless, Chips has a pretty nice place. He camps on a vacant residential plot on the southeast side of Gaborone. This area was developed back when the plots were very large, and the brush hides him from view of the nice homes on either side. There is a water tap on the plot, but Chips doesn't have any way of bathing. When you're homeless, you pretty much have to wear everything you own, and you can't very well wear a tub and a towel.

When James and Dingane got there, Chips was sitting on a log. He seemed very happy to see them. "Should I get a log for you?" asked Chips. "No, we're okay," they said. They exchanged greetings and then James said, "We came to give you a bath." "I don't have a tub," said Chips. "We brought everything you need," said James. "Dingane brought you his tub, and we brought a towel, warm water, soap . . ." That really made Chips happy. The three of them walked across the plot to where our car was parked outside the gate. James reached inside the car and

Dust and noise; children shouting to each other as they leave their classrooms. School is out for the day!! Remember the freedom you felt in those days back when?!

But some of the girls-and one boy!-remain and gather around Victoria. She is ready to hand each of the kids their colorful bags containing needles, wool and works in progress. Some are making scarves, some slippers.

Are your eyebrows now "knitting" together, as you try to bring your mind around the idea of scarves and slippers in Africa?