1. You have no idea what you will actually need.
2. 150 lbs is not actually that much.
3. You will never have enough time to feel truly prepared.
I spent 3 weeks gathering everything I thought I would need, consulting 4 different lists - one made by me, one by Joy Newburn (who has been in Bamenda with her family for 3 years with LMH), one by Dr. Jennifer Thoene (who has been in Njinikom with her family for 2 years with MDA), and one by Janice England, the LMH Director, who spent 4 years in Sierra Leone on her own LMH mission. I carefully checked off everything that I would need. I had a week to organize and pack everything. I took over my parents’ downstairs room, and labelled and categorized everything - Electronics, Household items, Bathroom, Kitchen, Food, Clothes, Medical, Personal. I had a list of everything I had gathered, so that I could check it off as it went into my suitcases. And then, all of a sudden, it was Saturday night, 12 hrs before my plane would take off, 10 hrs before I had to be in the car, bags packed, driving to the airport, and still everything was in neat groupings. I had planned everything, and yet somehow forgot to plan time to actually pack! Needless to say, I did not sleep that night. I found out that, although my suitcases were big enough to hold most (but not all) of my things, they certainly were NOT going to weigh 50 lbs each. I packed and repacked my suitcases several times that night, experimenting with weight and size, trying to decide what the most important things were, but really having no idea how to make that decision. It was hell.
In the end, I got 3 suitcases and 2 carry-on’s into my dad’s truck, and was at the airport in plenty of time to wait for the plane with the rest of the passengers. I made it to Njinikom with all my bags, and am getting settled in my new home, but that’s a story for another day.
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| Messy Bedroom |
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| Njinikom, Cameroon |
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