It has already been a busy season in our lives. The past few months have been filled with
seminars, conferences, and travel - all good and meaningful and helpful for us
personally and in our ministry. We were
nearing the end of a long stretch - and looking very forward to returning to
the village with Hannah - to spend a few months in the quiet chaos of the
routine, yet different, daily life in the village. This would be our last months with her in the
village, as she just graduated from high school and will soon be heading to the
US.
Now remember, for those of you who know me, I kinda like routine,
and lists, and plans, and calendars……I “do” that well. So life was cruising along as smoothly as
life can in a west African country…..a few hiccups of delayed flights, but
nothing this girl couldn’t handle. And
then it all fell apart!
We had been in Senegal for two weeks, celebrating Hannah’s
graduation. We had a great time -
visited with friends, relaxed a bit, got some work done, visited a sustainable
agriculture center, celebrated Hannah - and now it was time to go home. With flight schedules being what they are, we
were “stuck” in Dakar a few extra days after graduation - waiting for our
return flight on Monday morning at 6:30 am (which meant a 4 am departure from
the guesthouse.)
Hannah was returning to the village after being at boarding
school for 3 years - and she had managed to accumulate quite a bit of
stuff. We sorted and tossed, and
participated in a garage sale. But there
was still much to bring back. No
worries, I thought - we each get 30 kilos to bring back - and Jim and I didn’t
have that much stuff with us, so we would be fine. So confident was I that I even went shopping
at the “American” store and bought a few overpriced goodies to bring back with
us. We had been carefully watching our
budget during our 2 week stay - rarely going out to eat - knowing that the guesthouse was going to be
a big expense.
As we packed, it became apparent that Hannah had more stuff than
I anticipated. We were able to off load
a bit with friends who were traveling back to Guinea by vehicle…. but by the
night before we left, I could see that we were clearly going to be over the
weight limit. We had NO idea what that
would mean at the airport. We had
friends over for supper Sunday night and I gave them a bunch of food -
including some of my goodies from the American store that just wouldn't
fit. Hannah left lots of stuff behind
for the guest house workers and we finally got the trunks to weight (and our
carry ons to a bit over - but we decided to just try it and hope for the best!)
Monday morning early we got into our rented taxi and took off for
the airport - arriving around 4:30 am.
As we entered the airport, we noticed that our flight was not listed on
the monitor. I wasn't overly worried, as
they are not always accurate - but it was a bit concerning. We had our trunks wrapped with plastic wrap
and went to find the check in desk. No
one was manning the desk…. but it was still a bit early. 5 am came - and still no one. So I went to the airline office. I knocked on the locked door and waved at the
lady behind the desk and the man talking to her. Nothing - except a motion to wait. So I did, for about 10 minutes. More people started coming - more knocking -
more motions to wait. Finally someone
squeaked the wheel and they opened the door.
We asked why there wasn't anyone at the desk.
NO flight today…..
Because???
No one had a answer and they were unwilling to say when the next
flight would be. Ok then. So we finally gave up and left - grabbing a
taxi at the entrance - whose driver insisted our stuff would all fit - and it
did (barely) - with Hannah and I and 3 carryons and 2 backpacks shoved into the
back seat of a little taxi. Back to the
guesthouse we went, sneaking back into our old rooms and crashing until we
could talk to the manager. We were
hungry and tired - but we had given away all of our food the night before. Eventually we were able to grab something to
eat, confirm that we could spend another night or 2 if necessary, and got ahold
of our travel agent to ask about rebooking.
And then we waited. And we waited.
Flights in and out of CKY are not easy to come by….. There was no sense in going to the grocery
store, since we didn't know how long we would be staying. We took a nap and then walked to a restaurant
to eat a nice lunch.
After lunch, we were watching a show and “surfing” the internet
when we got a text from my mom, saying that Jim’s mom had been desperately trying
to get ahold of us with bad news - our brother- in-law, Art (Jim’s sister’s
husband) had died unexpectedly a few hours before. We were heartbroken for Renee. We were able to call right away and talk with
the family - to cry together and express our love and sympathy. We got off the phone and I told Jim - We need
to look into getting you back to the States.
We decided to contact our travel agent - just to see what that looked
like - flights, costs, etc. We sent out
an email and also gave him a call to verify that he was working that day. He was - and within 15 minutes, he wrote back
to say that there was a flight leaving at 9 pm - and could Jim make that? That meant that the flight left in about 3
hours and 45 minutes.
International
travel recommends a 3 hour early check-in time,
meaning Jim needed to be out the door - grabbing a taxi - within 30
minutes or so. Wow - ok - not much time
to decide. We decided to go for it. We hurriedly emailed to say - YES, buy the
tickets, and tried to get Jim packed. It
is hard to think when you are moving so fast - processing and packing and
contacting people. About 10 minutes
before Jim walked out the door, I said - Man, it is too bad we can’t send a
trunk back with you of Hannah’s keepsakes!”
He said - Why not?
So we took a trunk and dumped it upside down on the bed - and
opened the other 2 trunks, and started throwing things in. We missed a LOT that we could have sent - but
we got about 25 kilos in. I kissed him,
prayed over him, and sent him out the door.
It felt a bit like - WHAT just happened????
I moved into Hannah’s room and we grabbed some supper. We got frequent texts from Jim - letting us
know that he had arrived (after running into tons of traffic, getting stuck in
the sand, getting into a fender-bender, and his taxi driver nearly coming to
blows with another driver!), checked in, and was waiting, and then boarding the
plane. He was even able to text us from
Brussels to say that he was ok and had arrived.
Tuesday morning, we still had no confirmation that we could get a
flight back to CKY. It was a frustrating
day of communicating with the travel agent in CKY and the airline office in
Dakar. They found a flight for Wednesday
AM - but kept issuing tickets for Jim and I
- and not for Hannah - no matter how many times I explained that Jim was
on his way to the US and Hannah and I needed tickets. I didn’t want the guesthouse manager to leave
before had a chance to get tickets printed for our return. Finally, late Tuesday evening, we had it confirmed
and tickets in hand for an early flight the next morning.
Another 4 am trip to the airport - this time with luggage that
was clearly over the weight limit. WE
had learned that we were going to pay about $2 for every pound that we were
over - and we were about 45 pounds over - including our carry-ons. I was praying for grace - but prepared to
pay.
When we went to shrink wrap our bags, the worker asked what
airlines I was flying. I told him - he
said, oh, these are too heavy. I said, I
know - I am going to have to pay. He
said - Let me find someone on the flight who doesn't have much luggage and they
can claim some of yours……
What a sweet gesture from a humanity standpoint - but a horrible
idea from a security one….. apparently it is done often here. I told him- no thanks, we will be fine.
We checked in - the agent told me that the bags were over the
weight allowance - I explained why - and she sent me to the office with a
ticket stub to pay - though she only wrote down what we were over in the
trunks (not the carryons)— so about 22
pounds over. When I got to the office, I
was supposed to be charged about $42 - but when I explained everything, she
ended giving $10 back to me. I was so
thankful. The extra 48 hours in Dakar
were not cheap - with eating out, taxis, and more nights at the
guesthouse. This extra bit of grace was
a blessing
Finally we were checked through and waiting at our gate. Our plane was on the runway - that seemed
like a good sign. We were scheduled to
arrive in CKY around 8:30 am, which would be perfect timing for me to get to a
talk that I was supposed to give to some interns about medical work in Guinea.
We sat and visited, even saw some friends who were flying out on
a slightly later flight than we were.
They were called to board before us, which seemed strange. None of the agents seemed to be getting ready
to board the passengers for our flight.
6 am came and went, 6:30am, and then 7 am…. no movement.
I finally found the agent who had checked us in and asked what the
problem was. Explanation: the crew was napping! What?!?!?
Apparently they were on a scheduled break, napping on the plane while we
sat waiting….. “They need their
rest.” Ummm, me TOO!!!! Since I got up at 3 am, I was getting a bit
fussy. I needed my rest too. Finally, around 8 am, I saw someone pull a
stairs up to the plane and knock on the door…… and it opened. Movement started and we were boarding around
8:30 am - so much for making my 9 am
appointment. Seriously!!!
We finally landed in CKY, breezed through customs, grabbed our
bags, and were out the door to find Mr. Bah waiting for us. We drove straight to the compound where I had
my meeting, grabbed lunch, and then headed back to the guesthouse.
Now, our BIG, overwhelming job was to find a new guesthouse
apartment in CKY. The owner of our
current guesthouse apartment had decided to sell the building and we needed to
get out ASAP. The manager had a villa
that he would rent to us, but the cost was more than we could afford without
someone subletting the studio apartment and we had not been able to find
anyone. We could live there for 3 months
at the same price we were paying for our current apartment (since we didn't get
the 3 month notice), but that meant moving again - which I was NOT interested
in doing, if I could avoid it. I had
contacted a guy who helps people find houses/apartments and he had a few ready
to show me. We were going to start early
on Thursday. He said - “I found one that
is so great - 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, nice pool, tennis court, and the same price
as your pay now. The location is near
where all your friends live.” Whatever -
sounded WAY too good to be true so I didn’t have my hopes up.
Thursday Am we took off to see this “perfect” apartment - and it
WAS!!! So beautiful, great location,
great people to work with, same price (except a few extra utilities we didn’t
have to pay at the old place)! Amazing! Because he already had others lined up, we
saw 2 others. One would have been
workable - though there was no way to do laundry there, which would have been a
huge bummer. And we took off to see the
last place.
When we arrived, we learned
that it had already rented, but the man said that he had a different apartment
we could look at. So we wound our way up
a tiny staircase to a little 2 bedroom apartment that looked like something out
of the Hoarders show. We could barely
walk between the piles of stuff (including canned peas????) on the floor. There were about 6 men sitting on couches in
the apartment, and there were dirty dishes everywhere. They said - we can move out right away - no
problem. I was like - Ummm, no thanks…..
By Friday AM, I had contacted the owner of the first apartment,
set up a meeting, and signed a lease.
They were busily trying to finish up some work on the closets and
cabinets and promised it would be clean and move in ready by Monday. So Hannah and I spent the weekend packing and
sorting. I said to Mr Bah - this isn't
going to be hard. It is just 2 rooms of
stuff - not filled with personal stuff.
And he said - You never realize how much stuff you have until you try to
move! Wise, wise man!!! Apparently he has helped white people move
before!
Mission guesthouses can be a “crap trap” - since no one lives
there full time, people are afraid to throw stuff away. Take for instance the pile of padlock keys
sitting on the desk. I gave Hannah the
padlocks we had (for the doors) and said, throw away anything that doesn't
match. And she did.
Monday morning, bright and early, the big truck we had hired (Mr.
Bah “knew” a guy, as usual) , complete with the strong young men, arrived to
help us move. I had arranged for some
friends to meet us at the new apartment to help us unload on that side. And so the moving began, dragging a 2 bedroom
apartment full of stuff down the stairs.
As we loaded furniture from the bedroom, we discovered one of the chairs
would not fit through the door.
Apparently it had been brought in through the patio door. They asked me to open it - and that was when
I discovered that it was locked in 3 places with padlocks - which apparently
“matched” some of those keys that I had
Hannah throw away a few days before!
We
were in trouble. We very rarely ever
open that door - so I had COMPLETELY forgotten about it. I called a friend and asked him to bring a
hacksaw. He agreed. As the guys continued to load the truck, a
thought hit me. Maybe the trash hadn't
been picked up yet. So I ran downstairs
to the trash barrel and began to pull out bags.
Now, trash and African heat are not a pleasant combination! I found one that seemed right and ripped it
open. Digging through the maggots, I found the pile of keys Hannah had thrown
away for me! They matched….
We packed up the big truck, along with our Hilux, and headed over
- running into tons of traffic. We
arrived to find that the apartment was not nearly as “move in” ready as we had
hoped… they were still cleaning and
fixing. But we didn’t have a choice - we
just started stacking stuff in the corner.
Once unloaded, I gave our friends money to get lunch for everyone and
ran back for another load. We were
pulling in to the new place and were unloading the last piece of furniture when
it began to pour.
We were able to set up beds and start unpacking and cleaning. Tuesday we unpacked and ran a few errands.
Now that we were moved, I could start my shopping for food to
take back to the village, so Wednesday we spend the day doing banking and
shopping. We showed up at the bank, and
filled out a withdrawal slip to get our $5000 that we had wire transferred
over. They called me into the office -
No dice, we could only have $4000 - we needed to come back another time….. Ummmm, no thanks. The bank, while in CKY, is all the way
downtown - meaning at least a 45 min drive (one way) - or more on a bad traffic
day. Well, the guy said, you will have
to talk to the manager. Me - OK! Do you think I should hold his feet (a way of
begging) or start crying? The guy was
alarmed - PLEASE don’t do that!!!! It
made me laugh. I begged and they
consented and we walked out with the money.
Thursday I ran more errands, and then went to pick Jim up at the
airport. The parking lot of hopping - as
several flights were all coming in around the same time. We parked in the back lot. After a while, Mr Bah spotted a parking space
closer to the exit and we moved. I saw
Jim’s plane land and texted him to let him know I was waiting. I was SUPER excited to see him after 10
days. When people started coming out of
the airport, I got out of the truck to wait for him.
A security guy motioned me forward saying,
“You can’t stand all the way back there.
The person you are waiting for will think you didn’t come and will take
a taxi home.” I said - there is ZERO
chance of that happening since I am waiting for my husband. ‘Oh,” he said, “then I will help you find
him.” ?????? I was thinking - You have never seen my
husband - how are you going to find him for me?
He ran up to the front of the exit and waited. Then he ran back to report that Jim hadn’t
come out yet (thanks for the update!) and then ran back to his waiting
spot.
A few minutes later, I saw Jim
come out. I waved and he waved back. The security guy noticed us waving and fell
into place beside Jim - walking with him to the vehicle. “See, I found him!” Excellent - couldn’t have done it without
you!!!! We got the stuff loaded and the
security guy wanted some money for “his help”.
Umm, I don’t think so! I shook
his hand and told him thanks and we were on our way.
Friday and Saturday we finished up shopping, ran errands, and
collected and packed a medical shipment waiting for us at a warehouse on the
mission compound. All was set for us to
head home on Monday - we were hoping to make it to SLM where our team has
houses - but knew that we could stop at a mission compound closer if the trip
took longer than expected. We would be
driving two vehicles and that usually makes the trip go more slowly - as the
road is windy and you often get stuck behind other vehicles and passing can be
hard.
By Saturday afternoon, I started to feel achy ALL over - by that
evening, I felt horrible. I was running
a fever, threw up once, and had runny belly.
By Sunday morning, I could barely put one foot in front of the
other. I knew there was no way that I
would be able to drive the whole way home on Monday.
Often Mr. Bah drives for us - but this was in the middle of
Ramadan and he is a practicing M**lim.
They are required to fast during daylight hours - and then they eat like
crazy at night. They eat way more meat
(pretty unavailable in the village) because they need the energy to get them
through the day. (And this is probably
very un-PC - but people who fast all day, every day, for weeks at a time get
crabby and move slowly. I feel like
people should have their licenses revoked during that time. You would be AMAZED at the number of
fist-fights between drivers during fast month!)
Because arranging feeding for his trip was going to be complicated, we
decided that it would be better for Jim and I both to drive.
We delayed leaving until Tuesday.
Tuesday AM, at 5:30, we headed out - Hannah and I in our Land Cruiser
and Jim in our teammates Hilux. Both
vehicles were loaded - but not overly so.
The Hilux had 2 mattresses and a metal cabinet on the roof - not super
heavy, but bulky. The trip as
progressing well. Normally it is about 5
- 6 hours to Mamou and about 9 total to SLM.
About 3 hours into the trip, Jim began to notice the the temperature
gauge on the Hilux was climbing. We stopped
and checked fluid levels - everything looked fine. We kept driving, but it wouldn't cool
down.
The road was starting to get
mountainous, and he turned on the heat in the truck- but no go. We stopped and let it cool down a few
times. Finally we decided that maybe the
wind resistance from the load on top was causing the problem, so Jim and Hannah
managed to slide it over onto the Cruiser and strap it back down. That sentence makes it sound SO easy - but it
was bulky and awkward! As we were pulled
over, a white Land Cruiser pulled in ahead of us. It was colleagues of our who live in Mamou (a
few hours away) - they were on their way home after being gone for a few
weeks. They asked if they could help,
and assured us that that they had a mechanic in Mamou who would be willing to
look at the truck once we got there.
Finally we were back on the road, hoping that lightening the load
would do the trick. It wasn't long
before I saw Jim put on his blinker and pull over. No dice.
Still overheating! We were hoping
to limp into Mamou - still about 2 hours away - so we drove a bit, and stopped
and let it cool off, and then repeated the same process. We stopped for lunch alongside the windy
highway - the vehicle barely off the road.
We found a sort of clear spot and prayed that we didn’t get bitten by a
snake lurking in the grass.
The mountains were getting bigger - and we had barely taken off
after lunch when Jim pulled over again.
We finally decided that I would need to tow him. Towing is NOT my favorite thing to do - even
on a long, straight path. But add to it
windy mountainous roads with crazy traffic, and you have the ingredients for an
ulcer. But we had no choice. We hooked up the 2 trucks, and with Hannah
watching behind, we headed out. It actually
went pretty well and soon we were in a nearby town where I pulled into the
parking lot of an abandoned hotel. At
least now we were off the road and not in danger of being hit.
We called Dan in Mamou and asked if he could send his mechanic to
us. There were issues with the
mechanic’s motorcycle, so Dan graciously offered to drive him to us. It was about an hour drive from Mamou. We were running out of water, so Hannah and I
took the Cruiser and went into town to buy some bottled water.
As we waited for the mechanic, I began to think about the 2 coolers of meat and other stuff we were transporting to the village. We had packed the coolers the night before - and it was certain that we would not get home that day. I was worrying that the food would get too warm. Along with that, we had about $2000 worth of vaccines with us - a combination of meningitis and Hepatitis B. It was now about 4 pm, and I knew that we had about 4 hours left to go before we could reach SLM. We began to talk about whether or not Hannah and I should continue on, leaving Jim with the truck, and allowing us to reach SLM that night and head into our village the next morning. We could open and clean the house, and put the cold stuff in the the freezer, and be ready for Jim when he got home the next day.
We needed to make the decision
fairly quickly, because we were on the edge of being able to make it to SLM at
a decent hour. We usually avoid traveling
at night if we can, especially if it is just 2 women. We decided to go for it - so we shifted some
loads around, made sure Jim had food and water, and took off in a race against
the clock.
It all was going well - for the first 5 minutes. But on the other side of the town, we ran
into a snag. A semi truck had been
coming across a one way bridge and broke down just as he was about to exit the
bridge. His tires were touching the
ground but the rest of the truck - stuck on the bridge!!! SERIOUSLY???? I started laughing…..it had just been that
kind of day. Hannah decided to take a
nap as we waited to see if another semi could tow the first semi - BACKWARDS-
off the bridge. The line of people
waiting to cross was getting longer. Not
only were we stuck on our side, but Dan and the mechanic were also stuck on the
other side! Soon a soldier knocked on my
window to inform me that some people were using a bypass - through a
river. GREAT! Sounds fun!
:^(
We headed back to the bypass
and found a narrow passage through a river - where it was necessary to weave
between the big rocks that were underwater, along with the men bathing in the
river - who were seemingly paying no attention to the vehicles slipping and
sliding through the water beside them.
Each vehicle that passed made the exit and entrance to the river more
and more slippery. Every truck bottomed
out as it tried to exit on the way out on the other side. I was terrified.
We had a heavy load that we were trying not
to shift back and forth - but I knew that the rocking motion of climbing over
the rocks was going to be rough. On the
other hand, IF I did get stuck, there would be LOTS of half clothed men to help
push me out! A van cut in front of me
and waited for his turn. Someone came
and said something to the driver and he began to turn around. He rolled down his window to inform me that
the bridge had just opened up. PERFECT!
We turned around and passed easily. But the delay cost us valuable time. By the time we reached the gas station in
Mamou - it was 6 pm. We would not arrive
in SLM before 9 pm at the earliest - assuming that nothing else went wrong -
and frankly, it had NOT been that kind of day.
We decided that it would not be wise to try to continue. We turned back and went up the hill to the
guesthouse where Melodie welcomed us. We
got settled and made some supper - and waited for Jim. The mechanic spent a while taking apart the
engine and trying a few repairs - and they finally decided to try to limp it
back to Mamou. It took them several
hours- finally rolling in around 9:30 pm.
Jim was so happy to find us there - as he had been worrying about us
traveling at night.
The next morning, Hannah and I headed out again to SLM - hoping
to make it all the way home to our village.
We succeeded - arriving in the early afternoon. We found everything in order - except our
cat, who was quite pregnant! Hannah was
thrilled - me less so.
Wednesday passed, and Thursday, and Friday - and the mechanic was
still not able to fix the truck. Jim was
frustrated, I was frustrated, the mechanic was frustrated. We were working hard to maintain a good
attitude. Jim was safe - the truck was
parked inside a compound - he had a nice guesthouse and friends to stay with -
he had food - this was NOT our only vehicle - Hannah and I were able to make it
home and found everything in good condition - the food and the vaccines were
fine - SO much to be grateful for - and
yet we were tired and discouraged.
The mechanic wanted to try another part that was not available in
Mamou so Mr. Bah traveled from CKY to Mamou with the part. No go!
Finally we decided that I would drive back to Mamou (about 5 hours one
way) and load up our Cruiser - and bring Jim home. We would leave the vehicle parked there until
we would find the energy and strength to try to deal with it.
Early Saturday I left Hannah at home and started out. I was a bit nervous about leaving her
behind. Originally we didn’t have a
phone to leave for her - therefore no way for us to communicate with her. But I found an old phone, pieced it together
with a battery from a different phone, and used a SIM chip from an internet key
to be able to leave behind. (I felt a
bit like MacGyver!)
The trip went well. We off
loaded everything from the Hilux- into the Cruiser - and headed home, arriving
around 8 pm. Hannah had the house
looking great and a nice meal on the table!
Wow! What an
experience! I don’t EVER want to do
something like that again! As I write
this, the truck remains in Mamou and we are trying to figure out a way to get
it CKY. But we are slowly recovering
from the trauma of all of it - processing it and what we learned from it! Hopefully, if there were lessons in all of
it, we are learning them so they down have to be repeated!
