Sunday was our last day in Africa and the team was very sad to leave the continent and the many friends each member had made at the New Life Foundation over the previous two week. But it was time to move on and return home to family, get back into school & NCEA, etc. We woke at 4am knowing we had to start early because of the dreadful state of the Moshi-Nairobi highway and the need to be at the airport by 2pm. The journey took less time than expected because it was Sunday and there were very few trucks on the road. Upon arriving, Pastors Glorious and Josephine Shoo prayed for us all before entering the terminal and challenged each student to continue to go all out for God and, Lord willing, come back to Africa to continue to serve the poor and needy in the future some time.
We left a moderately warm Kenya and arrived in a boiling hot Dubai at 11pm - 35 degrees - like stepping into an oven! And the new Dubai Airport is opulent - the very opposite to Nairobi Airport. Dubai Airport staff were efficient and fast - the very opposite to Nairobi staff. Thankfully, the bus John Wilson (Pesa Wilson's nephew living in Dubai) ordered was large and air-conditioned! We arrived at our "guest house", the Dubai Evangelical Christian Centre at midnight and quickly pumped up our air beds and attempted to catch up on some lost sleep. 
We arose around 8am, had showers and breakfast and headed off to Ibn Battuta Mall, the world's largest themed shopping mall designed to celebrate the travels of the famous Arabic explorer Ibn Battuta. After buying family gifts and some clothing (with some like Ahbijit & Michael deciding to go the Arab way), we headed off to Wild Wadi, the water park famous for its huge and high water slide and circuits where rafts are propelled uphill by powerful jets of water. After 3 hours of water and heat, we were all ready to hit another air-conditioned mall…the Mall of the Emirates which includes the first and only "Snow Planet" in the Middle East. Then it was off to church for an early night and 1 more day in Dubai before heading to good ol' NZ.
TUESDAY 21st JULY
Today we woke to a scorching hot morning - 85% humidity and temperature around 43 degrees. Dust blowing from the North and originally from Syria and Saudi Arabia gave everything a hazy look and reduced visibility considerably.We spent the early part of the morning on debriefing - recording and discussing the mission and the impact it had on all our lives and the lives of the people we interacted with. Some major points that came out were:
- Poor people can be, and often are happy - rich people can be unhappy (I reminded them that Jesus said, "Life does not consist in the abundance of things owned"
- African people are much friendlier than New Zealanders. They openly greet strangers.
- The mission has been a golden opportunity to grow in Christ - we must endeavour to continue to grow after arriving back in NZ
- The culture of New Zealand is very anti-Christian (TV, music, immoral legislation, etc) and if we immerse ourselves in it, we will spiritually wilt. (Again, Jesus said, The cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things will choke out the Word)
- The young children in the NLF were very spiritually mature, more than NZ children of the same age.
- Mission members will endeavour to reach out to their non-Christian friends
Students and adults had the last opportunity to shop at one of the Dubai malls and after having lunch at the food court, we headed off to J Beach for a swim in the Persian Gulf. Before we had even walked over the white sand, some of us had blisters on our feet from the heat. The seawater was warm...like getting into a bath…certainly no "take-your-breath-away stuff that you have when you go swimming in NZ! It was also very salty allowing one to float on one's back quite easily. Drying oneself after the swim was quite easy - just stand doing nothing and the "hair dryer" effect from the hot breeze takes over! But then its back to perspiring and the need to seek out an air conditioned house/shop/car.After returning to our accommodation, we prepared for our 4 x 4 wheel Safari. Four Toyota Land Cruisers turned up to take us into the desert for some exciting driving on the sand dunes.
After tyre air pressure was reduced to 15psi, we took off and were basically surfing the sand dunes. Once again, for completely unknown reasons, I ended up as the only male (apart from the driver) in a vehicle of screaming frenetic females, namely Angel Liu, Jacky Turner, Valentina Carceres, Johanna Holzke and Kirsten Whittington. We finally arrived at the banqueting venue where camel rides were on offer. The getting up and sitting down of the camel offered the best photos as you will see below.
Before eating,the students all gained a henna (ink drawings that look like tattoos) on various parts of their body while others bought Arab objects and bags. After a sumptuous feast, we were entertained by a belly dancer - very much looking like a slightly overweight blonde Westerner. She seem to know what she was doing even if we were a little bleary-eyed but the routine did become a little monotonous after a while until she called members of the audience up on the stage. Mr Jacques, Mr Wilson and I were reluctant participants although Mr Jacques "let his hair down very quickly when the belly dancer gave him some suggestions and Mr Wilson attempted a cross between the Twist and a Samoan War Dance! It was all a lot of fun and the students had a good laugh.
We then headed home to prepare for the big flight back to New Zealand. We are all looking forward to meeting our family members again and we know you are looking forward to seeing us. So we hope to see you all at Auckland International Airport on Thursday 12:45pm, Flight EK406.