Voice of an African Nation

BY GINGER LEYENDECKER, MESA, ARIZONA
Well we got home after 36 hours, after the security scare, two seven hour layovers, and a run-in with a possible terrorist! A middle eastern woman sat in between Kai and I at Johannasburg. She was nervous, and kept receiving cell phone calls. Right as the plane was to take off, police got on the plane and came and told her to get her bags, and took her away. We wondered whether it was racial profiling, or if we had narrowly missed disaster. Either way, it opened up the seat between us and we had more room for those 11 hours on the plane!

The spider bite I got early in the trip became infected, due to a combination of not having water all the time and my tendency not to take showers very often! By the time we were on the last leg of the flight it was the size of a half golf ball on my shoulder and really hurt, sending pain down my arm and up my neck. I went from the airport to the ER, got through triage and then waited to be seen until after 2am. A helicopter had brought in an emergency and I would have to be seen the next morning. I went to my doctor and he said "It's a good thing you're here this morning, I wouldn't want to see this thing tomorrow!" I was given an antibiotic IV drip; I had a bad reaction to the drugs that had me out for the entire day. So now I'm on a different antibiotic and will go in Monday morning for another IV and a lancing of the infected boil!! Oh man where is that documentary crew when you need them???

I just want to go on the record and express how very proud I am of the students in the film crew. They have become true professionals and stepped up their skills and talents in a collaborative effort to make this film the best it can be. They are doing a marvelous job working together, taking care of what needs to be done, finding creative solutions to problems, and being the mature and dedicated crew we all thought they could be. I think both the feature and the documentary will be a huge success, and that working on this project will open up so many possibiities for these students in the future. Way to go film crew! I really admire all that you guys have done, and can't wait to see the outcome of your hard work. Cyndi has taught you well, and you are living up to her vision. She is doing a great job producing and troubleshooting. The synergy is really paying off.

I was very sad to have to leave this wonderful group, the crew and the beautiful Zambian people, but it looks like I got home in the nick of time with the bite. Now I'm trying to get ready for classes on Monday ... after the lancing of course...