Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, a young boy, whose name was Moses, developed a very strange idea. He decided he wanted to live and work in what was then known as the deep, dark, continent of Africa.
He successfully finished high school and university and held onto his dream. He worked for a little over a decade … still holding on to his vision.
Then, one magical day, in fact, fifty years ago on October 9, 1962 – the man, his wife and four children began a long adventurous path to the Africa of his dreams. They left the land of Miami, Florida and spent some days in a far and distant place named New York City where the family was privileged to sit in on a session in a giant space called the United Nations. They used big earphones – the children were very happy listening to whatever the people were talking about!
Then they flew on a great big iron bird and touched the “hot and humid” African soil for the first time on October 17, landing in Dakar, Senegal. They visited Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya, taking pictures all along the way with a special camera that made the pictures move – imagine that.
And then, finally, they “flew over Lake Victoria … a very beautiful scenery” and landed in Uganda on October 29, 1962 where they lived happily ever after …
Johnnie, the man’s wife, also recorded their journey through a small travel journal. On January 5, 1963 in Jinja, Uganda, she wrote: “Moses opened his international YMCA office with one table and a box to sit on”. Moses lived and worked on the African continent for 18 years serving the leadership and vocational needs of youth and young adults in Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana.
Moses, my father, understood the power of vision, belief, the will and steps necessary to see big dreams through …His vision changed my life and the life of my siblings, Moses Jr., Katherine and Shirley.
And that’s the end of my story,
