For starters, the travel schedule is as follows:
We will depart Mount Vernon First Church at 2 AM (Mar 22)
Flight #1 Columbus at 6:00 AM to Washington Dulles 7:19 AM (United)
Flight #2 Washington Dulles 10:15 AM (Mar 22) to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 7:45 AM (Mar 23) (Ethiopian Air)
Flight #3 Addis Ababa 9:15 AM to Lusaka, Zambia 2:25 PM (Ethiopian Air)
The return travel plans are as follows:
Flight #1 Lusaka 3:35 PM to Addis Ababa 8:25 PM (Apr 4)
Flight #2 Addis Ababa 10:15 PM to Washington Dulles 8:30 AM (Apr 5)
Flight #3 Washington Dulles 1:45 PM to Charlotte 3:02 PM
Flight #4 Charlotte 4:15 PM to Columbus 5:35 PM (Apr 5)
A few "fun" facts:
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be 7 hours ahead of Ohio as we travel and Zambia will be 6 hours ahead of Ohio. So it appears the longest flight from Washington DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be about 14.5 hours in duration and the total flight time to Zambia will be just over 22 hours.
On the return trip the longest flight will be about 17 hours and the total flight time for the return trip will be about 24 hours.
We will have the privilege of working with missionaries Rev. Gary and Rev. Penney Sidle and their family.They are MVNU alums and their home church is the Toboso Church of the Nazarene just outside of Newark, Ohio. Read more about their missionary profile by clicking on Sidle Family Missionary Profile
The exact work we will be doing is yet to be determined but at this point it looks like we will be working on Dormitory construction in or close to the Zambia capital of Lusaka, a city of about 1.7 million people. The list of possible projects includes installing ceilings, trim, doors and plumbing in the new dormitory. These items are all inside projects since we will be in Zambia at the end of the "rainy season". However we may get to tackle some outside projects if the beginning of the other season, called the "dry season", arrives just a little early.
Stay tuned for more information as final preparations continue!
