It’s travel day! Wow, the time has come for us to get on the road and leave behind a whole bunch of new friends and people with whom we have grown in affection and care for the place they have landed in our hearts. The day is bright and sunny, a perfect day for travel. However, before we go, "How about a picture?"
I thought I’d include a picture of some of the folks we have been hanging out with over the last week. I’m certain you can identify the team members for yourselves, but the other faces are from right to left, Pastor Gaston, Leotine (she has been caring for our food needs throughout the week while in the back country) and the fella on the end is our guard that I spoke of in an earlier blog.
Once the trucks are all loaded, which packing trucks in the CAR is a bit different from doing so in America, due to the fact that as a gift of appreciation several of the villagers have brought us chickens to say thanks for all that we have done. So once we have all of our stuff in, we begin the process of tying the live chickens inside the back of one of the trucks. It really was quite a comical site.
Finally, we’re on the road and due to the steady rain we’ve been experiencing the better part of the week, the road out of Pama seems even worse than it was when we came. So slowly, and carefully, we make our way to Yaloke, where a form of paved road awaits us and it feels sort of freeing to have the wind in our hair and be traveling back to Bangui.
What’s so great about going back to Bangui? If you would have asked anyone on the team when we left Bangui they would probably have said nothing. But now . . . the promise of a shower, a toilet and a real roof over our heads seems almost too good to be true.
The drive is hot, and long about six hours, in part due to some of the obstacles one is likely to encounter while traveling the roads of the back country.
I continue to be amazed at just how many people can get on one truck or in one car here in the CAR. Not to mention all the people drying their manioc along the side of the roads, children playing close to the road, and animals that seem to think the road was really put in for them and that cars were just borrowing it.
We have walkie-talkies in three of the four vehicles as we travel together. I’m riding in the lead car with Tom driving. Our radio handle? Pig-nicker. On the way to Pama we nailed a goat first, killed it dead in the road despite lots of horn honking etc., there was just no missing it. Next we served up a chicken for dinner for someone where in a flurry of feathers life turned fowl for this one particular chicken that would have been a whole lot better not crossing the road at all. And then finally, pulling into the mission house at Yaloke, out from behind a tree, it was a pig! We swerved to miss it, but it kept coming. We caught it’s hind quarter but the report from behind us let us know that it was still walking, just with a serious limp... Hence was born our radio handle, Pig-nicker. Let’s hope today’s drive is just a tad bit more animal friendly. We don't want PETRA to come after us here in the CAR...
After a Coke and bread about half-way through the day it was on to the waterfalls at Boali. It was a beautiful site to behold.
While at Boali, Tom took us to a suspension bridge that the natives use to carry crops across from the fields on the other side of the river. The challenge was issued about who wanted to go across, and while not everyone felt the need to prove anything, there were some would be thrill seekers that ventured across.
The bridge consisted of bundled together sticks, laid end to end through the "Y" shape of many branches that were tied to two side cables. It was a real swinger.
Finally, we arrived at Bangui, and showers were the first item of business. You could hear the sighs of joy coming from the bathroom as each new person had their five minutes under actual running water. It was a sweet, sweet pleasure. Be warned: neighbors might be tempted to call the police when they hear the noises coming out of our houses when we get in a hot tub in America!
On the dinner agenda, after a long day of travel, all told the trip took us 8 ½ hours, we had been invited to GBIM headquarters here in Bangui for a time of fellowship with the GBC missionaries who continue to serve faithfully here in this incredible land.
I took a picture, unfortunately, a couple of the missionaries had already left, and our first trip of team members had already left on the shuttle. I should have thought of the picture earlier, but once the menu of Tacos and ice cream was announced, all my clear thinking went out the window. Thanks so much to the GBIM staff for their grand hospitality, and a chance to hear a bit more about life in Africa.
On tomorrow’s agenda? Head over to the Orphan Care facility, finish the basketball court we began before we left, and maybe some shopping to put an exclamation point on our day as we gather stuff and start laying plans for America.
Until tomorrow,
RAD
RAD
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