R and R

MAF  have a policy that offers all the international staff based in Juba the chance to get for a week, once every 3 months. This is called, "Rest and Relaxation" time- R and R. It is a chance for a mental break from the intensity that being in this particular environment seems to demand.

The system operates on a rota basis. Every 12 weeks, we can take a week out and travel to either Kampala or Nairobi. Sometimes, our week out might clash with someone else's time away and then we need a little flexibility, which has happened to us, so we are a bit behind in taking our time away.

Last week, I felt ragged, unusually tired, worn down. We worked out that we were 4 weeks overdue for our R and R time. That helped me to feel better. On reflection, 12 weeks seems to be an optimum time to take a mental breather. When we over-ran that time, exhaustion caught up with me and I took a dive into feeling unable to cope with even the most basic of challenges. Things that could have made me laugh were making me cry!

Tomorrow, we will take our very first R and R trip, climbing aboard the MAF shuttle to go to Nairobi. No tight flying schedule for Andrew. No Juba heat. No home school. We have worked non-stop at home-school since the beginning of September, so this will be like a belated half-term.
And we are all soooo excited!
I have the longest shopping list in the world, a cooler box to carry back some meat from the more reasonably priced Nairobi supermarkets and just one appointment for us all to get our cholera vaccine whilst in the more developed Kenyan capital city. We are ready for our very first R and R...