To quote Barry Manilow, “Looks like we made it!” After four flights, totaling 23 hours in the air, we finally arrived in Minembwe.
After a nearly sleepless flight from Seattle to Washington D.C., the Ostrander family napped on the floor at Dulles International.
After our third flight, we usually take a 35-minute UN helicopter ride up to Minembwe, but the girls were too young to use the helicopter, so we had to drive to an airport in Northern DR Congo to fly on a plane into Minembwe.
Fortunately, Bella and Sophia were fantastic travelers, as our seven-hour drive turned into eleven hours due to road construction, border crossings, a five-month old baby, and a flat tire.
I was so hungry on this drive that I first thought the sign on the back of this van read “Shwarma.”
Our family was loaded onto the plane first, which put Miles, our newly “winged” pilot, in a perfect spot to chat all flight long with the pilot.
We love flights where everyone has a window seat.
With our pilot Ted, who also happens to own this airline… Busy Bee Congo.
We were walked from the Minembwe airstrip back to our home by this group of our friends from the community, and the university. Andre, one of the orphans, gave a lovely welcoming speech.
Bella and Sophia’s first night in Minembwe was also their first night sleeping, at their request, in their own room.
