Day Two
4:11 AM Edit This 2 Comments »
Apparently, I had a conversation with Julie in my sleep. (Renee & Duane you can relate to this!) So we get up the next morning, wash up and prepare for the 9 hour drive to the village. We are packing up and I realize that I can't find my passport. It's almost comical but not really. I can only think of having it last in the dark corridor in the airport....Julie was very comforting assuring me she would not leave the country without me. I later told her, it's always easy to see that things will work out when it is someone else's passport that has gone missing! :-) I was forced to tell Jeremy Tice, a missionary that came to drive us back to the village. He was uncomfortably calm and requested the copies of it that we were carrying. When I asked if we could go back and check the airport, I think I heard him laugh. :-( So our escorts from the airport arrive at the mission house because the wife, Marie, is joining us in the clinic this week. (these poor people) Kent, her husband, recommends that we search every possible bag because he would have to stand for two days at the Embassy on my behalf trying to get a new one......We found it! Apparently they have had this happen a couple of times and the passport has always surfaced. I obviously felt your prayers!
Moving on...We set off with Mr. Bah, our driver. There are no obvious road rules or emission control! The waste and filth on the streets was unexpected. The heat intensified the odor of EVERYTHING. Several times we saw people urinating on the side of the road right next to where they were cooking or shopping. Once we get out of the city, the roads are winding, rough and the smells turn into a more "wild" scent. We came to a gas station that actually had a toilet, (which is rare) so Julie and I anxiously jump out and arrive at a hole in the ground. The odor mixed with heat equals dry heaves for Amber, providing loads of entertainment for everyone. We are back on the road again, we stop for lunch at an empty missionary home, we had Lebanese bread with summer sausage and of course Conya bottled water. We were back on the road again...I don't usually suffer from motion sickness but the roads, combined with the smells and hours of flying the day before, called for some Dramamine. :-) So we are an hour or so away from the village and we stop for gas, there is no electricity so the generator is used to pump gas. Unfortunately, the generator is not working, we waited 20-30 minutes for gas. While waiting, I looked across the road and noticed a boy about the age of Caleb, washing laundry with a bucket and scrub board. I'm wondering if his mother had to ask him twice? We get our gas and move on. A while later, Jeremy asks if we are ready to see Dawn? Of course yes, Julie and I have been dying for the last hour, wondering if the journey would ever end. He says, well here she is! Along the road, next to the tall African grass is a truck and out pops Dawn! She is real! This is apparently a common way to exchange people, there is no where else to meet! The days of travel have been made worth it. We ride with Dawn and she turns off into the bush with no apparent landmark, we drive for another 30 minutes and come through the foliage to a village! We have stepped back in time hundreds of years. There are mud huts with grass roofs, Nationals are gathering and following our vehicle. We had a warm welcome. Everyone is so excited that we have come, we are a novelty. Before I came on this journey, I dreamed about our bedroom here, I would share a room with Julie and we would have bunk beds, I would be on top. Guess what? They had a room with bunk beds in our house, it was our room! We stayed in a home that had been lived in by missionaries. We had solar electricity, and a bucket of water to shower in. Dawn said you have this amount of water, maybe 5 gallons, is that going to work? I don't know about you, but I have NEVER measured my water while bathing. Let me assure you, it's not that much water. :-) We had 7 people staying in our home, one of them male because he was married to one of the ladies. He and I became extremely competitive and were showering with just a quarter of the bucket by the end! We had a large window in the front of the house, and with our "fire burning" at night, we felt like a television show for the Nationals. Our porch always had someone on it, watching the white people. You never know what we might do, I wanted to stand on my head or do a back flip to make it worth their time. :-) We walked to the "clinic" to see where we would be spending our time, our entourage followed. We went to bed and were to be at Dawn's by 7 am to prepare for the day. No bugs, rodents or snakes at this point! Yeah, am I really in AFRICA?
Thought for the day: You could never describe the smells and the sounds, which is 90% of this experience.
Moving on...We set off with Mr. Bah, our driver. There are no obvious road rules or emission control! The waste and filth on the streets was unexpected. The heat intensified the odor of EVERYTHING. Several times we saw people urinating on the side of the road right next to where they were cooking or shopping. Once we get out of the city, the roads are winding, rough and the smells turn into a more "wild" scent. We came to a gas station that actually had a toilet, (which is rare) so Julie and I anxiously jump out and arrive at a hole in the ground. The odor mixed with heat equals dry heaves for Amber, providing loads of entertainment for everyone. We are back on the road again, we stop for lunch at an empty missionary home, we had Lebanese bread with summer sausage and of course Conya bottled water. We were back on the road again...I don't usually suffer from motion sickness but the roads, combined with the smells and hours of flying the day before, called for some Dramamine. :-) So we are an hour or so away from the village and we stop for gas, there is no electricity so the generator is used to pump gas. Unfortunately, the generator is not working, we waited 20-30 minutes for gas. While waiting, I looked across the road and noticed a boy about the age of Caleb, washing laundry with a bucket and scrub board. I'm wondering if his mother had to ask him twice? We get our gas and move on. A while later, Jeremy asks if we are ready to see Dawn? Of course yes, Julie and I have been dying for the last hour, wondering if the journey would ever end. He says, well here she is! Along the road, next to the tall African grass is a truck and out pops Dawn! She is real! This is apparently a common way to exchange people, there is no where else to meet! The days of travel have been made worth it. We ride with Dawn and she turns off into the bush with no apparent landmark, we drive for another 30 minutes and come through the foliage to a village! We have stepped back in time hundreds of years. There are mud huts with grass roofs, Nationals are gathering and following our vehicle. We had a warm welcome. Everyone is so excited that we have come, we are a novelty. Before I came on this journey, I dreamed about our bedroom here, I would share a room with Julie and we would have bunk beds, I would be on top. Guess what? They had a room with bunk beds in our house, it was our room! We stayed in a home that had been lived in by missionaries. We had solar electricity, and a bucket of water to shower in. Dawn said you have this amount of water, maybe 5 gallons, is that going to work? I don't know about you, but I have NEVER measured my water while bathing. Let me assure you, it's not that much water. :-) We had 7 people staying in our home, one of them male because he was married to one of the ladies. He and I became extremely competitive and were showering with just a quarter of the bucket by the end! We had a large window in the front of the house, and with our "fire burning" at night, we felt like a television show for the Nationals. Our porch always had someone on it, watching the white people. You never know what we might do, I wanted to stand on my head or do a back flip to make it worth their time. :-) We walked to the "clinic" to see where we would be spending our time, our entourage followed. We went to bed and were to be at Dawn's by 7 am to prepare for the day. No bugs, rodents or snakes at this point! Yeah, am I really in AFRICA?
Thought for the day: You could never describe the smells and the sounds, which is 90% of this experience.
2 comments:
What an awesome blog! I would so love to know you! I have a premie who is now 14 mo old and weighs 11 lbs. Hx of NEC/SBS, GT, Broviac, Omegavan, liver failure and chronic sepsis og line, gut, ? :( I wanted to ask you all some questions about homecare tips and ideas. I also wanted to ask about the overseas travel experiences. But I am unable to access your email, so am sending you mine. Anyone who would write me and give me advice and feedback would be a blessing--of which I will pass it on xoxoxox, sweetsooziep@yahoo.com
Wow, I am glad God answered in finding that passport! And so true, that you can never describe it well enough to experience the smells and sounds, but I'm feeling it just the same. So cool too about the dreaming of the bunkbed. God is so good!
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