Our team had a six-hour drive to the airport, with stops along the way, including a glassblowing shop, an Azul stop (a gas station with animals and restaurants), and border checkpoints. Each hour, we gazed out the window to soak in the mountains and rolling hills as much as we could before having to wave goodbye to a place each of us will deeply miss.
Eswatini and South Africa will always hold a place of impact in our hearts. In fact, we all took time to write ourselves a note to open weeks after returning home — a reminder of the memories made here and the impact the experience had on us.
That night, the team shopped around the airport, embracing the unique finds in the African stores before stepping onto our planes. We exchanged big hugs and said some hard-to-say goodbyes as we parted ways to travel back home. Jack, Carol, McKenna, Greg, Nick, and Zoey departed together, making a stop in Paris for a layover before heading to Chicago, where they made their final departures. Natalie, Katelyn, and Snappy took a 17-hour flight back to Atlanta, followed by one more flight to Texas, where they said their final goodbyes.
As our trip comes to an end, we want to thank you for following along and for all your prayers and support. The impact made wouldn’t be possible without the help of so many people here in the States. We hope you enjoyed our stories and appreciated the glimpse into what we accomplished while in-country. We also hope it sparked an itch for you to get involved and join in on the impact. If so, we invite you to help continue transforming lives by becoming a friend to an Eswatini carepoint with our partner, Children’s Cup or by donating to FMSC to help fund the food shipped to the carepoints we served at.
Additionally, if your heart has been tugged to join the next trip to Eswatini, we invite you to stay informed and consider joining the waitlist at Impackedful.com/go2africa.
Stay tuned for more photos from our trip in about two weeks! We’ll be sure to share lots you won’t want to miss.