Elder daughter Jennie is on the faculty of the School of Social Work at University of Washington in Seattle. When Jennie was a doctoral student at Northwestern University, just north of Chicago, she met her partner Adele Botha playing rugby. The bond between them grew and they moved to Seattle together for Jennie's job. Adele just graduated from UW in civil engineering this year.

Adele was originally from South Africa where her father was a pilot for South African Airways. In the mid '90s the family moved to the United States. However, Adele has many relatives, including three brothers, who still live in South Africa.

Jennie and Adele had traveled to South Africa previously and decided that this was the place where they wanted to hold a ceremony of their commitment to each other and at the same time provide for an adventure for many family and friends.

Since I had never been to the continent of Africa, this seemed to be the time to expand the trip enough to make contact with people working in AAC, some of whom were previous acquaintances. Others who shared the mission were yet to be met.

The following breakdown of the three weeks is by topic and thus easily navigated according to one's interests.