Ronnie Thomas, 24, soon will head for Namibia in southwest Africa to educate mostly young adults.
By APRIL SIMPSON
Published January 9, 2004
[Photo courtesy of Ronnie Thomas]
Some boys at a school in Natmibia joke with Ronnie Thomas about her blond hair. "I definitely don't blend in down there," Thomas said of the southwest African nation. "You don't find many fair-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed girls."
FLORAL CITY - In late December, Ronnie Thomas traded in her job, Jacksonville apartment and vehicle so she could move to a poverty-stricken country, share a room with two non-English speaking women and learn how to drive a stick shift vehicle.
Later this month, Thomas will take a 20-hour flight with a suitcase filled with just the necessities. She plans to spend close to a year in Namibia, a small coastal country in southwest Africa.
Thomas, 24, spent two weeks in Namibia over the summer with Youth for Christ, an international ministerial program.
On this trip, Thomas will continue her work with Youth for Christ, educating mostly young adults on AIDS and abstinence. She also will extend her stay from two weeks to nearly 11 months. It will mark the third - and the longest - time she's ever been overseas.
"I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it, as well," Thomas said, echoing the words of poet Diane Ackerman.
"I just know this is where God wants me right now," Thomas continued. "So, I'm going."
Namibia has a population of close to 2-million, yet the country loses about 230,000 people to AIDS and HIV-related deaths each year, according to 2001 estimates in the CIA World Factbook.
Thomas, a Citrus High School graduate, earned a degree in health education from the Unversity of Florida in 2001. After graduating, Thomas said she had a bad experience teaching science and math to fourth-grade students and began checking the state Department of Health Web site everyday for job opportunities.
Thomas eventually became a part of the department's Great to Wait program, and for more than a year worked for the Baker County Health Department encouraging public school students to abstain from sex until marriage and educating them on teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
Working for Great to Wait allowed Thomas to become certified in testing and counseling HIV patients.
When Thomas went to Namibia over the summer, she knew her services were needed much further away than Jacksonville.
"In the media, everyday (kids) get the message that everyone's doing it, and there are no consequences," Thomas said.
"I felt that I had something that I could give to (the people of Namibia)," she said. "They have so many myths and misconceptions about the disease. That's why it's taking over their population."
Thomas keeps a decorated scrapbook with stickers and Bible verses. Each page has a paragraph-long synopsis of her travels. Thomas keeps one picture of a 6-year-old orphan boy who already is HIV positive and isn't growing properly.
The people of Namibia are struggling with the AIDS epidemic. They lack material possessions, but still have joy, Thomas said.
Both Jenny Thomas, Ronnie Thomas' mother, and Robert Vey, Ronnie Thomas' brother-in-law, said they weren't surprised by Ronnie's decision to go back to Namibia. But they weren't prepared for her to stay so long.
"I'm excited for her, but I'm going to miss her because we talk on a daily basis even when she wasn't living right here in Inverness," Jenny Thomas said, adding that she will be able to communicate with her daughter via computer and Web cam.
Vey, who accompanied Thomas on her first trip to Namibia, noticed Thomas' keen interest in the Namibian environment lingered long after the two returned to America.
"She has a knack for (teaching), because that's typically what she does in her job," Vey said.
Since Vey has been to Namibia, he knows the people Thomas will be with and where she will be staying for the duration. He's not very worried about Thomas' safety while she's abroad.
Thomas said many people are misinformed on Africa when representations of the country are associated with the unrest of Congo and Liberia.
She doesn't fear for her safety, even though members of her church group were robbed during her first trip.
However, Thomas is a little concerned about getting around, learning how to drive a stick shift and driving on dirt roads where animals such as zebras, warthogs, elephants and giraffes, roam free.
"I definitely don't blend in down there," Thomas said, adding that she cannot go into the city without a male escort. "You don't find many fair-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed girls."
Most of Thomas' preparations have been made for the trip. She will be staying at a Youth for Christ base camp in Hodygos. As she travels across the country with a YFC group, teaching at schools and orphanages, Thomas will pack a sleeping bag for lodging in area churches.
"I'll be sleeping on the floor a lot," she said.
There will be no air conditioning or heating, but Thomas will have electricity.
Thomas said she expects to get homesick, but she keeps reminding herself that this trip is only 11 months and she can't allow homesickness to ruin her experience abroad.
Besides, Thomas said, she doesn't have a house or a boyfriend.
