Special visitor in Joburg

On Tuesday, October 27 we experienced a very happy reunion when we met our daughter, Melanie, at the Johannesburg Airport! We last saw her July 26, 2008 when we said our sad farewells to her at the Saskatoon Airport. Airports are often filled with lots of emotions for us as we either say hello or goodbye to our family.

Melanie has been living in Central America over a year now where she was working as an intern through Youth Challenge International in Guatemala and as a volunteer in El Salvador. She has learned to live simply, enjoy tortillas, beans and pupusas and can speak Spanish. We kept in touch with her via Skype, and now it is such a pleasure to have her here with us in our home in South Africa! We have enjoyed many good conversations, her wonderful cooking and excursions around our big city. She was invited out to a movie and dinner tonight without the “old folks” so I’m sure she’ll have fun. Melanie will join us for an MCC trip to Lesotho and Zambia next month so she can see some of the MCC work in the region. It will be great to celebrate Christmas in South Africa with her this year!

Lois leaves early January for Saskatoon for the birth of Allison and Jason’s baby while Bruno and Melanie will keep the home fires burning here in Joburg and work on a review of the Swaziland HIV/AIDS programme. Melanie will then join the Cantin family of three and Grandma Lois later in January.

We value our family relationships, and find it challenging to live so far away from them. A visit from Melanie means so much to us and we also look forward to meeting Allison, Jason and our new grandchild at the Johannesburg Airport in June 2010!