June 3, 1999, CE
     By my calculations, I am, as I write, somewhere above Africa, perhaps still over the Atlantic. I and my companions in the aircraft have been flying for six or seven hours now – I slept, despite the probability that it would have been advantageous for me to be awake at first and sleep later. But Adam and I traveled all night last night to get to the airport, and I was completely exhausted
     It is difficult to believe that I have taken the irrevocable steps in this journey to a strange new land and totally new experience. I do not think it can be other than surreal when a person is going to a place they know as little about as I do of Mozambique. I had a thought about my recent trepidation towards this venture. I got nervous once I realized that I was not going to an Africa whose beauties and blessings I could understand. What I know of Africa is a cross between my parents' village stories, safaris, and The Gods Must Be Crazy. I have no frame of reference for an urban Africa – one with a jazz scene and nightlife. Instead of the jungle and the bush I am going to a city, and I cannot imagine what that will be like and how to react. I have only dreamt of in rural Africa. It never occurred to me that Africa just might have more faces than the one I had heard about!
     I have often said that no matter where I was I am always homesick for the place I was not, but now I will find out what it is like to leave both home and school behind. This sounds awfully pessimistic, but I also believe that on this journey I will find a new place to love. Instead of my parents' tales, safari photos and The Gods Must Be Crazy, I will have my own perception of this wonderful and mysterious continent: Africa. It is good that God gave me a sense of adventure (even if its capacity is currently being stretched), because otherwise Africa would necessarily remain dark to me. I believe that I will learn much about Africa, and myself.
     Africa is a still a mist-covered conjecture below me, blending with the dark ocean. But tomorrow, tomorrow she will be real.