When we last updated the blog, our final ministry expedition had commenced and we were heading toward the finish of our Advance Mission Training in preparation of our departure for Tanzania. Now we write having survived a four day rainy season drive across Eastern Africa in which the close calls and perils were unrelenting and a slew of African challenges were met in uniquely African ways. If there were a perfect way to completely immerse a family in the African experience, I think this trip about covered it. Now for some of the last chapter's details...
On Monday, the 21st of November, the 9 person team packed into the 7 seat Land Rover Discovery - new trailer overflowing and hitched - and set out from Livingstone, Zambia towards home in Kigoma, Tanzania. Having completed AMT two days earlier, our work at Overland Missions Rapid 14 Base was done, but the journey has really only just begun. At 8:30 a.m. we hit the road for what was a 6 - 8 hour trek to the town of Kabwe, with a planned stop in Lusaka for lunch with a dear friend. By 4 p.m. and with our lunch plans dashed, we finally left the mechanic who was repairing the leak in the exhaust system he had fixed 12 weeks earlier that had threatened to set the car on fire as we initially arrived in Livingstone. But no sweat, we only had to drive 100 kilometers or so out of the way before we noticed and we only wasted about 8 hours of perfectly good drive time...
Around 11 or 12 that night we pulled into the quaint little town of Kabwe, which could best be described as Ybor City meets a truck stop and gets decorated like downtown Beirut. The "Disney" - a night club - tries as best as a night club can to make the city feel like the place you want to raise your kids, but I am afraid it comes up a little short in the end in an attempt to make your dreams come true. As you could expect at that time of night on a Monday in such a desirable location, the lodge we were headed for (a gem in the middle of this place for sure) was fully booked. Why did we not have reservations, you ask? Because the phones at Overland were down all week after being fried in a lightning attack and Google Zambia doesn't offer much in pinpointing your search requests for this specific hotel. Predictably, all the other inns were booked as well. It really was exactly what we needed to hear - a local government council had some sort of conference/getaway for its officials - in beautiful Kabwe.
No biggie at this point. From Kabwe (now at about 12 - 12:30 a.m.) it was only about another hour to the next town of Kapiri where we were told we would find another nice lodge that was clean and safe for our kids. Of course, this was a relative opinion because the town of Kapiri was no larger than a interstate rest stop with a few small communities of shanty towns and markets surrounding it. This was not going to be the place we were finally succumbed to a brigade of bedbugs. No way, no how. With an arsenal of peanut butter and jelly, granola bars, and various other bunker foods, we decided to aim for the next stop. Kasama and the Thorn Tree Inn was only about eight more hours of driving; just what the kids were hoping for. When we did finally arrived at the Thorn Tree, well before the previous night's guests were ready to check out, it was like pulling into Eden after a long walk in Death Valley. There were pillows. There were beds. There were showers and a restaurant and a place to park more than the truck. Thank the Lord because we really had no idea what lied ahead.
The following morning would be the first day we got into the mountains and got to see what the rains had been doing for the last few weeks. The border of Tanzania was wet and green and as we hit the end of the tarmac it wasn't all that bad. We made good time that day and had an uneventful last night on the road.
On Thanksgiving, we were up and out at 6:30 a.m. with one last day of driving - about 12 hours in normal conditions (which are mountain passes and rock piles and river beds on this stretch) and, by our estimation, 14 to 16 hours in the rains. It all went fairly well for the first half of the day. We dragged the trailer up into the mountains of Southern Tanzania, right through the Tongwe and Rukwa chiefdoms we will be working in for the next five years. The roads were wet and it was raining on and off, so the driving got more and more treacherous the farther we pressed on. But the worst trouble was handled by caution and steady driving. The only major setback we endured up to this point was a cattle truck that had bogged down in some deep mud ruts at the top of a mountain. After a brief survey of the roads and surrounding terrain we decided to skirt the truck and try to push through the mud with the trailer in tow. With a little slipping and sliding, the Land Rover did its thing and made it through.
The descent of the mountains and approach to the Malagarasi River began what we expected to be the last 6 hours of the trip. The roads were taking a beating by this point in the day's rains. The mud was deepening. The ditches were widening. The oncoming traffic was getting more and more unnerving. After we crossed the river, there is a salt mine and juncture that signals about 2 - 3 hours till home. But it was apparent these hours would test us as the darkness fell and the rains didn't let up.
Even with the setbacks and long hours in the car, the group was doing pretty well. It was 8:30 p.m. and we were finishing the last bits of decent food we had - the sandwiches and breads - and were munching exclusively on the packaged foodstuffs that go down easily and stave off hunger long enough to open another. The water wasn't cold anymore. We were running low on fuel without any options for refilling. It was feeling a bit tight and like we needed the end to come soon. But it was all okay because the end was near; less than three hours away. And then we hit the road construction.
As you hit the regional limits of Kigoma, there is a huge swath of road projects being developed by Chinese companies. The roads look like a mixture of dirt half-pipes and construction service routes cut right through villages and along washouts and ditches. There is no signage and the visibility goes from poor (the normal African standard) to impossible as the roads twist and undulate. People are moving across and along at all the worst times. All of this was culminating at a bottleneck behind a pile of earth movers, trucks, and concrete masses. And the word from the site workers was turn back. No getting through till 10 a.m the next morning. You've got to be kidding. Happy Thanksgiving. At this juncture there were three options:
1. Sit and wait. NOT A CHANCE.
2. Turn back to Kasulu and take the detour roads into Kigoma. Six more hours of driving. BARELY enough gas to get to Kasulu. Gas stations will be closed in an hour. Who knows what those roads look like.
3. Drive five minutes back to the Chinese work camp and try to find a ladder we can climb to the bosses ear. Maybe they will show us compassion and give us passage on a service road they have to get past this mess. Or maybe we could at least buy a little gas to make it the long way. EXHALE...
Right about now, there was nothing orthodox or simple to any of the circumstances around us. Turning around with a trailer in this muck while avoiding sliding off the poorly graded roads and into a pond or another vehicle was a problem. There was no visibility in the darkness and the rain. But it had to be done. Sure enough within five minutes we were pinned between two stuck semis and spinning our wheels in about 18 inches of mud. Our only salvation would be the grace of God and the shovel on the roof. And I wasn't the driver and the driver wasn't gonna dig. At least I didn't lose a shoe. Pushing and pulling the truck, clearing wheels, and guiding Steve as he negotiated the gas pedal and brake with the perfect turning angles, Javen and I were able to get the truck out after unhitching the trailer and digging. We then had to lift the trailer by hand and swing it into position to be reattached to the truck and pulled for the final escape. All of this in the soup, and the rain, and the dark - with about seven Tanzanian road workers scurrying around us to try and offer help and sometimes getting in the way. In any case we were out, albeit fully drenched and covered in enough mud to paint the six inches of foot and leg space we had to get back into. At least we were heading somewhere.
A few kilometers back in the wrong direction we pulled in to the Chinese workers' camp. It was a construction supply yard with bamboo and banana leaves manicuring the edges of the property. There were dorms and offices built in typical construction site trailers. The bathroom was straight out of the abyss - I mean this one was worse than the village squat houses you encounter in the bush. At this point some of us HAD to check out the bathroom, and subsequently resist the temptation to eat the food offered us. And Steve had to make small-talk with a Chinese construction worker in broken Swahili. Caitlin's portion of the conversation took place over a few bottles of water and even included an invitation to be the guy's first Facebook friend - what else do you talk about in a Chinese worker camp in Tanzania on Thanksgiving at 11:30 pm? If I had internet I would have tweeted something like: #feelslikeAliceinWonderland.
In any case, all of our time (about 90 minutes) and effort (many jumbled words and uncomfortably silent smiles) and sacrifice (more gas burned on the way here and more dignity lost on the way to potty relief) resulted in this: "Turn back to construction. There is detour. Small trucks getting through. Trailer problem to pull." Interpretation: If there is an opening, no matter how tight, or mud-ridden, or challenging to us pulling this trailer, WE ARE GETTING THROUGH. He just told us we could give it a try.
Now, at this point there are only a few words that could describe the emotional atmosphere in the truck. However, to most accurately describe it, you probably need all of those words in some emphasis and order. Tired - no, exhausted. Elated. Or maybe more relieved. Desperate. Manic. HUNGRY. Cannabalistic. Or at least ballistic. Nervous. READY - to try and run this mini-caravan over an eight foot high drain pipe with some dirt that is now the consistency of mashed potatoes sprinkled over its sides?! This is nuts. This is the detour?! It's only 10 feet wide! There's a 10 foot drop on either side! This is nuts.
Countless and faceless Chinese and African workers: "Do it. DO it. DO IT!"
Donna: "I dunno Steve, that looks high."
The rest of us (in our minds): "She's right, but who cares at this point, we should just do it. At least its exciting. NOT A GOOD THOUGHT. We'll be closer to home. Yeah, let's do it."
Steve: "I'm doing it! Hold on."
We hit that hill at about 40 degrees and with as much momentum as you can get when you gas it in 2 feet of mud with 9 people in the car and pulling 1500 pounds of trailer. We hit it like a rhino in a footrace. It was ugly. We weren't kings of this hill. We were stuck again. And the crowd of workers were calling and signalling to execute the rescue plan. At least they seemed to have it covered. Yup, here comes the backhoe. The huge Komatsu backhoe in front of us was now swinging in our direction. And the guys in front of us were hooking the truck to a toe cable. Salvation. A couple of good yanks from that steel behemoth and we were dislodged (we'd find out later that the force of this pull bent the steel bumper welded to the truck and hitched to the trailer) and crawling past the most ridiculous driving event I have ever witnessed. But we only got to crawl about 100 yards. Because that was where the next roadblock was, courtesy of the bus whose battery had died in the middle of the only passable road out of here. Welcome to Africa. it's not Thanksgiving anymore. Oh well.
The good news is the most dangerous and difficult part of our trip was behind us. The bad news was we had 2 more hours to wait this mess out while the bus in front of us got its battery issue solved. After that, we only had about 2 more hours to drive! Piece of cake at this point...and as you can tell, we survived. We even got to bed by 4 a.m. after spending a whole 22 hours straight in the car - of course that is after 58 hours of driving in 4 days with 3 kids and 9 people total packed in one car. And yes, we ALL survived.
And we're all coming back for more.
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. We can't wait to tell you more.
TO VIEW GLIMPSES OF THIS ADVENTURE ON VIDEO, VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE LISTED BELOW. ITS WORTH THE LOOK!
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The Garrett Family
Overland Missions
813.486.7632
@Africanjohnny on Twitter
YouTube: "Tanzania Ablaze.avi"
facebook: John Nikki Gaudiosi-Garrett
http://kigomatanzania.blogspot.com/
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