After 9 hours of flying from Detroit, we took advantage of our 7 hour layover in Amsterdam by taking a train into the city and then touring the city by boat on the famous canals. Even though the temperature was in the 30's, the streets were full of people. Their were bikes everywhere you looked. It was then back on the plane for a 10 hour flight to Nairobi, Kenya and then a 2 hour flight to Lusaka, Zambia. Our flight from Nairobi took us over Africa's highest point, Mt. Kilimanjaro. You could see it from the plane.

In Lusaka, we visited The House of Moses, one of The Christian Alliance for Children in Zambia's homes for orphaned children. Opened in 2000, The House of Moses is a unique nursing care model for premature and high risk infants. Before The House of Moses came on the scene, these abandoned infants died for lack of milk and basic care. UNICEF and the United Nations have recognized THoM as a "best practice model". While we visited with the children, the home's Alice Botha described the other homes, schools and programs they oversee. Alice surprised a couple of us when she mentioned that the children who do not get adopted will eventually attend the Helen DeVos Christian School. The Helen DeVos from Grand Rapids donated the money to build the school. "Small World". Needless to say, it was very emotional to see the children begging for our attention and contact. As we left, it was comforting knowing the care and love they were receiving from their special caregivers.

Another "Small World" experience came the same day when we had dinner with Dr. Michael Seward and his wife at their home in Lusaka. I have known Dr. Seward for many years before this trip. You see, Dr. Seward is a St. Joseph, Michigan ophthalmologist that works for Great Lakes Eye Care. The 10 doctors at GLE are very involved with eye missions all over the world. Many of their doctors and staff attend missions on an annual basis. GLE's Dr. Pletcher is the creator of http://www.missioneyes.net/, a web site where anyone interested in finding a mission to support can view upcoming missions, from all over the world, that may need helpers or supporters. Dr. Seward is on a multi-month mission commitment to the Lusaka Eye Clinic. We had a great dinner, even though at any one time you could find someone with their eyes closing and their head bobbing. I was just a little suspicious of our first real African meal. As it turns out, the two day marathon was taking it's toll - and we had many more days to go. Much more to come.