Hello and Goodbye

Time to drive to ORT International Airport - they'll be there in 25 minutes... Yes but it will take 45 minutes to get processed through immigration and collect their bags - no hurry! Remember they came early last time and we almost didn't make it in time. I don't want to be late...

This scene, or variations thereof is repeated many times a month. More and more visitors arrive in Johannesburg, either to see us, or are on their way through to another part of the country. We didn't realize how frequent that would become or how rich a blessing it would be. It is hello and goodbye as friends, colleagues, strangers and family drop in for a chat, a visit or a stay.

Last week end we hosted the MCC Zimbabwe Reps and their family on their way to Benin to visit family. Flying in from Bulawayo they had an overnight with us before catching a morning SAA flight to Cotonou. They are part of our work family and we enjoyed a conversation filled evening and morning so it felt rather empty after they left.

The evening before we ate together with a Mennonite Canada Witness missionary and had deep conversations about how to understand Anabaptism in our day and age and what that means to an emerging network in southern Africa.

A week earlier our Zimbabwe 'daughter' spent a few days with us while on a medical checkup.  She is getting used to our 'English dinners'. We got to know her well when she stayed with us a month and a half earlier in the year. So she comes and goes in and out of our lives. Often in the day she will send a skype chat note asking how we are and updating us on her situation. So that goodbye is mitigated with regular chats along the way.

Other visitors last month included several colleagues from the DRC (Congo Kinshasa). One was here on a training event and the other visiting his son. As we sat around the table and caught up on each others lives it was another reminder of the richness of having friends from around the world who open our eyes to different perspectives and understanding of the world.

North American visitors also grace our table and home. After the All Africa MCC reps meetings in Lusaka a number of MCC staff came by - some due to flight delays and others to do some check-in after visiting projects in the region. Eventually we are alone again and wonder how the time went by so quickly.

Is it time to go - yes I guess we better get to the airport or they'll be wondering if anyone is coming to meet them....