The Take Off
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Juanita and her crew arrive at Dulles International Airport by 2:50 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. as she had originally planned. It was snowing heavily and the roads were bad which was largely the reason for the delayed arrival. But we were still hours early for our evening flight. There were 15 of us who assembled in the lobby area near the South African Airways reservations desk. Ten of us would accompany Juanita to Africa. The others came to the airport assist with last minute matters and to say farewell.
Juanita is dressed for comfort for the 15 hour trip. She is wearing black slacks and black sweatshirt with BZB – her nickname and business logo printed in gold letters on the front. Her locks peek from a multicolored floppy hat.
We spend about an hour in the lobby securing and weighing luggage, getting our flight tickets and passports in order and saying goodbyes before heading for Gate B-32.
Juanita gathers everyone to pose for a group shot and leads us in a smile-for-the-photo chant. “One, two, three Random Acts,” we shout in unison as Roy Lewis our group’s lead photographer takes the picture.
It’s real, it’s real,” squeals Beverly Johnson, Juanita’s longtime friend and project advisor who is can no longer stifle her excitement about taking her first trip to Africa. Along with being a boutique owner, Beverly is a charter school administrator who hopes to establish a partnership with a school in South Africa.
Everyone passes through the security without incident. That is everyone except me. I am the recording journalist on this trip and when I walked through, the alarm went off. The rest of the group had to wait for 15 minutes as I did the checkpoint cha cha with security officials. They scanned my body with a wand, patted me down in select places and checked my carry on bags before letting me go. It was my body jewelry and hair ornaments that set the alarm off.
We purchased last minute travel items before boarding the shuttle that will take us to the plane.
The Airbus A340-600, that would transport us to South Africa was massive. Beverly and Roy called it the “Rolls Royce.” It turned out that it was more than a nickname. Juanita noticed that “Rolls Royce” is the actual name of the plane’s engine. The plane seats 317 passengers and there were only 129 traveling on this flight. That meant there would be plenty of room for us to stretch out. After sitting for an hour while the maintenance crew de-iced the plane, we finally take off at 6:20 p.m.
It will be a 15-hour flight and we pass the time eating, reading, listening to music, watching videos, visiting, writing and contemplating what lies ahead in this unique excursion to The Motherland.
When Juanita is settled in I ask her what possessed her to do this project. “God told me to,” she said. “My spirituality and my inner consciousness talked to me. Since I had the dream I’ve been on a mission to make it happen.”
Juanita and her crew arrive at Dulles International Airport by 2:50 p.m. instead of 1 p.m. as she had originally planned. It was snowing heavily and the roads were bad which was largely the reason for the delayed arrival. But we were still hours early for our evening flight. There were 15 of us who assembled in the lobby area near the South African Airways reservations desk. Ten of us would accompany Juanita to Africa. The others came to the airport assist with last minute matters and to say farewell.
Juanita is dressed for comfort for the 15 hour trip. She is wearing black slacks and black sweatshirt with BZB – her nickname and business logo printed in gold letters on the front. Her locks peek from a multicolored floppy hat.
We spend about an hour in the lobby securing and weighing luggage, getting our flight tickets and passports in order and saying goodbyes before heading for Gate B-32.
Juanita gathers everyone to pose for a group shot and leads us in a smile-for-the-photo chant. “One, two, three Random Acts,” we shout in unison as Roy Lewis our group’s lead photographer takes the picture.
It’s real, it’s real,” squeals Beverly Johnson, Juanita’s longtime friend and project advisor who is can no longer stifle her excitement about taking her first trip to Africa. Along with being a boutique owner, Beverly is a charter school administrator who hopes to establish a partnership with a school in South Africa.
Everyone passes through the security without incident. That is everyone except me. I am the recording journalist on this trip and when I walked through, the alarm went off. The rest of the group had to wait for 15 minutes as I did the checkpoint cha cha with security officials. They scanned my body with a wand, patted me down in select places and checked my carry on bags before letting me go. It was my body jewelry and hair ornaments that set the alarm off.
We purchased last minute travel items before boarding the shuttle that will take us to the plane.
The Airbus A340-600, that would transport us to South Africa was massive. Beverly and Roy called it the “Rolls Royce.” It turned out that it was more than a nickname. Juanita noticed that “Rolls Royce” is the actual name of the plane’s engine. The plane seats 317 passengers and there were only 129 traveling on this flight. That meant there would be plenty of room for us to stretch out. After sitting for an hour while the maintenance crew de-iced the plane, we finally take off at 6:20 p.m.
It will be a 15-hour flight and we pass the time eating, reading, listening to music, watching videos, visiting, writing and contemplating what lies ahead in this unique excursion to The Motherland.
When Juanita is settled in I ask her what possessed her to do this project. “God told me to,” she said. “My spirituality and my inner consciousness talked to me. Since I had the dream I’ve been on a mission to make it happen.”
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