Eight trunks of medical supplies must be unpacked, sorted, and re-organized back into the trunks by function (nursing supplies, wound care, pharmaceuticals,etc.) Meds must be repackaged, counted by hand and placed into individual baggies labeled with directions and sorted into the pharmarcy trunks.
About 2 dozen 50 lb trunks and suitcases brought by our team members full of ministry and educational supplies that we had all been collecting for months had to be unpacked, organized and sorted by our various community projects (Jamii School bible camp, Jamii teacher training, general Jamii school supplies, Kangundo special needs student supplies, Kangundo family care packages, New Dawn Healing Arts camp, New Dawn student care packages) and repacked back into trunks and suitcases. Oh, and did I mention this all had to be done by lunch?
This year we were flying instead of driving to our first destination of Eldoret (Jamii School) that same afternoon. We needed to leave for the airport by 2 pm for a 5:10 flight bringing all 19 trunks and suitcases of the medical supplies for the Jamii medical clinic and the education supplies for the teacher training and bible camp for the kids. In addition each team member had a carry on bag and personal item. Hence the need to be done by lunch (which we were -YAY team!) load up 4 matatus (vans) and head to the airport early, knowing that checking in 22 people and their carry ons, plus 19 checked bags, just might take some time. Let's see, ...that would be 63 pieces of luggage.
Oh, and did I mention that of those 19 extra checked bags, 15 had been previously paid for by Kizimani and all were meticulously packed to be just at 25 kilos each (around 50 lbs) which we had been told by our Kenyan travel agent was the allowed limit.
We got to the airport in record time! So far so good. We are on track! YAY team! Check in begins!
And.... it's at this point that everything about our amazing race grinds to an amazing halt.
We begin weighing our bags. The ticket agent says our first trunk is 10 kilos overweight. She says all checked bags must be 15 kilos or less....not 25 kilos. Then she says all carry ons must be 10 kilos or less...total...for the two. None of us had weighed our carry ons. All but a few of us were way over the 10 kilo limit. Miriam goes into negotiator overdrive. She explains what our travel agent had told us. She talks to a manager. She explains again. She negotiates again. Nobody is budging. At this point it is 4 pm. Our plane boards at 5.
Our only option....to get shipping boxes from two very helpful porters, and redistribute and reweigh all our luggage (63 pieces) using boxes for overflow items until all checked bags were at their limits. As we madly tossed items out of bags and into boxes, the porters taped them all up with packing tape and then wrapped them in a cocoon of saran wrap. It took 11 boxes to even out our luggage. Now instead of 4 extra bags to pay for, we now had 15.
At 4:40 pm we are finally lining up to check in 22 people with what is now 74 pieces of luggage. Boarding time t-minus 20 min. And counting...
After paying an additional $150 dollars for the extra luggage, we make a mad dash to security, pass security and get to our gate at 5:00, boarding time. Whew! We did it! Yay team!!
We collapse into chairs wherever we can find them, to wait for boarding to begin. And....we wait. And...we wait some more. Our flight is delayed for an hour. Hans said he managed to get a very nice nap in. Honestly, none of us were too upset about the brief respite from our frenetic "team building" tasks. We land in Eldoret, gather up our 74 bags, drive to our guest house, unpack all those shrink wrapped boxes, reorganize, re-pack medical supplies, educational supplies and teacher training materials back into their original trunks so everything is ready for our first day at Jamii.
Twenty-two bleary eyed team mates crawl to the finish line, and our cozy beds by midnight.
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