Hey team!
I hope you all had a great long weekend! I hope you guys are getting excited about our trip, I know we as your leaders are super excited about it!! Did you start your Journey devotional? How’s that going? We’d love to hear some feedback on that. We’re praying for you and look forward to talking to you tonight on our team conference call. Don’t forget…7pm Eastern time. Check the blog for details on how to call in.
I’ve received a few questions from you over the past few days. If there are more, keep them coming. Here’s what we’ve got so far…
1. I have a friend who was wondering if there were kids that needed clothes, cause his mom has a bunch of old children’s clothes (from I think it was like age 4 to 11)if you want to pack some children’s clothes as part of your designated gifts for people there, that would be ok. You could pack these as part of your ministry bag -just make sure you are bringing the needed ministry supplies as well. Don’t go crazy on this as we don’t want to open up a used clothing store 🙂
2. I wasn’t quite sure about the dress code someone told me we had to wear skirts all the time and someone said skirts or like capris, I wasn’t sure which one? Girls need to wear Skirts for all ministry; however, we can wear pants and capris around the house.
3. I have a camera that charges and a camera that uses batteries I was wondering if I would be able to charge the one or if I should bring the other one? I wouldn’t count on being able to charge your camera. This could be potentially difficult due to us having to use adapters and converters to adjust to the voltage difference in Swaziland. In Kenya I had a camera that charged. I used an adapter and converter and still one day it blew up because of a surge in electricity. So I’m just going to play it safe and bring batteries for my camera.
4. Can we bring things like hair dryers…expecting there to be the international plug changes there, or should we buy the plug changer things. No hair dryers/curling irons are allowed
5. Should I bring my own towels Yes; a travel towel that dries quickly is recommended, although not required
6. Do I need to bring detergent to wash my clothes? No, we’ll get it there. However, do expect to wash your own clothes by hand. We’ll teach you and it will be a fun experience for sure!!
7. In the handbook it says our clothes we wear in Georgia will most likely be ruined and thrown away before we leave, does that mean we need to expect to bring more clothes specifically for Georgia and all it’s rain? We just want you to know what could happen if we get a downpour. It’s happened before. This being said, don’t only bring one pair of pants for the entire time. If they get messed up at training camp, you’ll be in a sticky situation heading to Swaziland with no pants. Come prepared for anything, you never know about GA weather.
8. Is it safe to wear contacts in Swazi? Yes
9. Can I wear sweatpants around the house? yes, but make sure you check the handbook to see stipulations on casual wear around the house
10. Will there be a microwave at the house? No. we’ll be blessed to have a refrigerator and a stove.
11. Can I pack my ministry supplies in my personal bag so that I can avoid the cost of the second bag, which is $25 both ways. You will need to bring 2 bags as we’ll need all the space allowed each person. We’ll each be checking 2 bags from GA to Swaziland and you should expect other team things to be put in your ministry bag. We’ll be taking over a sound system, quilts for orphans in Swazi, and other items for our trip. It is unfortunate that the airlines are now charging for the 2nd bag. However, it is very possible that you would not have that 2nd bag upon returning home, as we’ll be leaving everything from that bag there.
12. Are we leaving some of our things to the people of Swazi before we come back?( Things like our blankets, pillows, clothes, etc. …I personally would love to do this, and have heard of many who do this) This is definitely a possibility. You will however never be required to do this.
13. In the handbook it mentions we will need to bring an insulated cup/mug of some sort to carry water…What size should I buy (perhaps is it something I can carry around my neck?) don’t worry so much about the insulated part, just bring a non-breakable water bottle. These can be found at Wal-Mart, Target, outdoors stores, etc.
14. How many skirts, pants, capris, etc. should I plan on bringing? We’ll be doing laundry (by hand) probably once a week. Skirts can typically be worn more than once. I’d guess that 3 or 4 skirts would be plenty. It’s up to you and whatever you want to haul. People typically pack too much, just keep that in mind.
15. Can I bring a cell phone? no, according to handbook, page 25 you are not allowed to bring a cell phone.
Question with dress code for girls – What length do the skirts need to be?
What if we need to bring our phones to like… contact our parents once we get back home? Or something.
I just got some clarity on this rule. You may bring your cell phone to use ONLY to call your parents to let them know you arrived here safely and after the trip you can call them to tell them you’re back in the US. You will however not be allowed to use them at ANY other time during training camp. If we find you using them outside of this, they will be thrown in the fire…not really, but please respect this rule. 🙂
LOL! Okay, sweet action. Thanks!!!
Wow…I just checked this and totally forgot about the conference call! I really don’t have an excuse (other than it being exam week), so I’m really sorry about that. Sorry team!
Wow, I forgot about the conference call as well! I had an extra deadline put on this week and was working late… Still, I hoped to be able to talk with people…
Maybe there’s another one we can get to Rob.
Yeah…I hope so…even if we don’t it just gives us more motivation to talk to people now.
I know this is sort of a goofy question….but I’m sort of a tea freak…and I was wondering if it’s okay to bring tea from the U.S. to Swaziland…just to have in the morning or at night…or will it get confiscated in customs? I know they do random bag checks with your check-in…so yeah…that was just a random question…i know my bag got searched last time and I had like Peanut butter, jelly, a bunch of packs of noodles and stuff…and it was fine…so yeah…i’m not sure since tea could be seen as a special US product
after talking to our contact in Swazi, i have this information on skirt length…
skirts must come to mid-calf or at least below the knee. you may want them longer because it will be cold, but ankle length is not required for this location.
Here is the news for the guys. I know I have already given some of you this but it’s good to hear it again:
The guys can wear shorts. If your doing ministry I would suggest that they wear something like nice Khakis whether they are shorts or pants. They can wear jeans when they are doing ministry as well. For church they should wear something nicer, like khakis or cords or something that is not jeans with a nice shirt. Preferably like a polo or a button down, something that has a collar. They don’t need to wear ties.
ok, Rob…you just got a gold star! I don’t really have any gold stars or a chart or anything, but if i did…you’d get one for your tea comment.
YES, YES, YES…you absolutely may bring tea with you! and you should. I contemplated putting that on the main packing list, but I refrained. 🙂 I’m definitely bringing some fun teas. You won’t have any problems at all through customs.
I’m thrilled to know someone else on our team shares my love for a good cup of tea. What’s your favorite kind? Right now I’m actually sipping a hot cup of honeybush caramel roobios. mmmm!
correction on question #10:
I just got an email from the guy who is doing setup for us in Swazi. There is actually a microwave in our house! We’ll be cozy and one big happy family of 21 in our house but we’ve got a sweet setup there!
Well…it’s just been in the past few weeks that I’ve become a tea drinker…I like honey and lemon…just by lipton.
I have some lipton green tea at home…not a huge fan of it…I like the cold stuff better
I had some Bigelow Earl Gray tea on Sunday at a friends house and I really loved that
I also had a sip of some Darjeeling that a friend had and it was super good…it really did taste like the champagne of tea as one tea company puts it.
So I’m still trying to figure out what I like…I want to get sampler from Bigelow which has like 12 different types of tea and total of 96 bags…but that costs like $20 (not too bad about as much as from the store from what I can tell)…so I’ll see what I can do about that! Other wise I’m just going to get some different boxes of tea from the store.
I like milk and sugar with my tea…honey doesn’t seem to do too much…how about you?
…I just got hooked on the hot tea…i’ve been a huge fan of all sorts of iced tea for a long time…so I just discovered the joy of tea in the morning and tea at night (the jolt of caffeine is good for studying for exams and tests)!
you are truly speaking my language…
My favorite tea ever is called Mate Vana and it’s only sold at a wonderful store called Teavana. It’s a mixture of black and green tea and it’s got some other fruits in it i think.
As far as tea genres, I like red teas the most right now. That’s mostly b/c I’m not supposed to have caffeine right now due to some food allergies and such. There’s a red tea called Passion strawberry that i really like. I like most all red teas…vanilla red tea..mmm! And i hear that red tea is originally from South Africa, so we’re in luck.
As you can tell i really LOVE tea!! I’m glad i’ll have someone to enjoy it with me in Swaziland. Perhaps will try to convert the rest of our team into avid tea drinkers!
ok…. this may be a dumb question… but can girls wear t shirts while we’re doing ministry?.. and for the shots…. tetanus is the only one that’s required right?..
yes, we will wear tshirts most everyday – even in ministry.
According to page 40 of your handbook, these are the shots that AIM and the CDC recommends for travel to Swaziland: Hepatitis A or IG vaccine, Hepatitus B, Typhoid. Malaria pills are optional. However, as stated earlier, malaria meds are not needed for the region of Swaziland that we’ll be in. It’s completely up to you whether to take them. I personally am not taking malaria meds. If it makes you feel better to take them, then do whatever it takes. 🙂
Muchisimas Gracias!