Car screeching! Let’s back this up a bit. A LOT had to happen to make this trip happen!
I mostly blame social media as a primary catalyst for this journey to Africa. There were several main sparks that were ignited close together over time and they all came together in a very intentional and thoughtful way. It was by no means an accident. It was a great example of being open to possibilities, being curious and asking a lot of “what if” types of questions, and having the mojo to make it happen by trusting the universe would provide what I needed.
First, I had started taking steps back in 2019 early 2020 to take a trip to Kenya later that year. It would have been a service trip (not tied to any church or religion) around community health & maternal education. Sounds great! It was through a group based here in NC and my friend Lisa had traveled a lot with them, knew the area, etc – sign me up! Maybe even Jason! ….and then, the world closed.
Around that time I also started following a lot of animal sites as well as women empowerment stuff on Instagram. I found two things in particular that probably impacted the trajectory of my trips. One was following Giraffe Manor in Kenya. This is THE place in Kenya where you can stay and giraffes dip their heads into windows of your rooms and join you for meals. I immediately fell in love with it. It’s extremely expensive to stay there – stupid expensive. Beautiful! But woah, nowhere close to something normal people can afford. For fun I mapped it and Google maps told me that I could not get there from here. 
It was probably right. But…what if it was wrong? I mean, other people were there. Other people figured out how to get there. The photos and images were absolutely beautiful. Still, really expensive and def out of my reach.
The second thing is that COVID made me do more yoga and did a lot of work around manifesting things that are important to you. Using mantras, affirmations, being mindful of your energy, attracting what you want, etc. It sounds a little mystical or weird if you’ve never done it but it’s actually pretty powerful. COVID also made me really see things in a different way – life is short, do the thing, take the trip, do it by yourself if you have to, nobody is gonna make it happen for you.
Another thing… I started following was a lady named Mirna. She’s a larger, black woman athlete runner and biker. She’s had a lot of partnerships with REI and similar, had a book out, etc. I really liked her vibe and followed her on Instagram. Mirna participated in this multiple day bike ride across Kenya with a group of ladies. WOW, how cool is that! Ten days riding across and through the savanna, seeing giraffes, zebra, etc – what a cool experience. Waaaaaaaait a minute…they are coordinating a trip for next year!? (next year meaning 2023) Annnnnnnnd this is to benefit Zawadisha…what’s that? It’s based out of Nevada and has an office in Kenya…..ok, that’s interesting. Women empowerment, organized by Jen in the states. I dig into what this is, is it legit? Who is Jen? Is she legit? Oh…… she’s legit and she has 20 years experience traveling to and living in Africa. And now there’s a yoga trip option and another that explores Kenya??? Three choices. Hmmmm……. Let’s keep it on the table and think about it. Don’t dismiss it altogether. Keep thinking about it and be open.
The ideas were there. The path was there. I just had to pull all the pieces together in a way that made sense. By the fall of 2022, I had been saving for 3 years for an ambiguous trip in the distance that might happen. After I looked into the details of what was planned for summer 2023 I knew that one of the three trips they offered would be for me!
And then I also joined a reading group on FB. There were so many great recommendations and it made me want to read more. I read a book about this elephant rehab place in Kenya called Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. Their story and history is phenomenal! It’s not a zoo…all elephants who are injured or orphaned end up back in the wild but it takes a lot of time and money to rehab a huge beautiful beast. This is definitely one of the things that increased my commitment – the chance I could visit here!
But….by myself? Across the planet by myself? That’s….nuts. Jason wasn’t really committed and it’s a huge expense/commitment….you gotta be ALL IN for a trip like that, no half baked stuff here. The reason it’s such a significant commitment also includes the obvious direct costs but you spend a lot of money along the way, lots of cost in international travel vaccines, time away from work, time away from home/kids, experience a moderate level of discomfort, and assume general risk. Risk of sickness, getting lost, being taken advantage of, losing important documents, misunderstanding the language & currency, risk of getting into a cab/Uber and hoping you’ll be ok. All while traveling alone without a significant other/friend/partner. To East Africa. I really need to think about this. Have I lost my mind?
I recently did this activity on defining values and to my surprise, one of my values is risk taking. Not HUGE risks. In hindsight it makes sense and if this trip wasn’t aligning with so many things I wanted, needed, and valued – nothing would! So around Thanksgiving ’22 I paid for the trip to Kenya happening in August 2023! It was a trip with 7 other ladies from the Nevada/N. California area. I didn’t know anyone, nobody else was from the East coast, just me. They either knew each other already of had a 3-degrees-of-separation thing going on. Not me! And since I was going all the way over to Kenya, I figured I’d add on another adventure as well – that’s how Rwanda came into the picture. That’s why I ended up going to two countries and not just one.
I didn’t know it at the time but that was just the beginning of a HUGE trip that has impacted me in more ways that I’ll ever be able to really articulate. So….that’s how this whole thing started. Lots of seeds were planted, a lot of stars lined up, timing was really good, and I was intentionally in the right mindset (ballsy) to think that I could actually do it by myself! Next post will be about my adventures in Rwanda including hiking with gorillas!
CHANDRA GREEN 