When we landed in the airport of Lilongwe, things didn’t appear as I expected them to. Everything was relatively clean and ordered, we stepped out into a parking lot of taxi drivers wearing button-up collared shirts, and I thought, “This is not the Africa I pictured.” The only thing that felt the way I thought it would was the obnoxious amount of flies that land on anything that doesn’t move (rainy season). I don’t know what I expected, perhaps more heat, more confusion, more tribal garb, and a couple of chickens running around….that’s what you would expect when the only thing you have to go off of for this sort of thing is Hollywood. I wouldn’t way I was disappointed, just surprised.
THEN….the bus station happened and it was Africa. At least the Africa I expected…
We pulled into a dirt lot named “National Bus Company” where immediately our bags are swarmed by “helpful people”. I always grab mine since I am obstinate and don’t want to pay anyone to carry it the 10ft over to the bus. I lug all my things over to the bus through a confusion of hovering men all offering services of some sort where a man (I assume works for the bus company) starts violently shoving it all under the bus into storage. Once that is done we walk around to the driver to pay. Once we pay and begin to get on, the man who loaded the bags wants the equivalent of 3 dollars for every bag he loaded.
The whole bus is leaning to one side but no one knows why (or ever does since it never changed the whole time) so as I try not to fall out of my seat (one of 5 seats in a row with a tiny isle in the middle) my butt falls asleep. My American butt never did fit on the seat properly anyway…it hung over the side so much! We sat on that bus for almost two hours while the driver got every penny he could. We thought he would be done selling tickets when the seats were full but instead he kept selling until there was no more room to stand/store bags. Once packed on like sardines we began the journey of 5.5 hours where we would meet a lot of interesting things.
First of all, the man standing beside me had no personal space so I got his butt in my shoulder or crotch in my face often in addition to the occasional elbow to the head. Second, we kept stopping at allotted areas where vendors could swarm the bus and try to sell their wares through the window…typically travel snacks but one guy did buy an interesting headband made out of a deer tail. Third, something started making noise on the back tire which caused those few who could see out the window to stare down and yell at the driver. We stopped in the middle of what looked like the Lion King to re-wire something to the bus. A few more minutes of driving and it got loud again, shook the bus, and most likely fell off since it didn’t bother us again after that.
I didn’t enjoy going through the towns especially after dark since crazy and sometimes normal people would bang on the windows to make kissing faces at us. And I didn’t enjoy the cramped taxi ride where we turned down a sketchy dirt road behind the police station and all I could see was the dark trees around us….with the thought of my pocket knife buried deep in my pack unable to help me. But going through the countryside was absolutely amazing. We would pass little grass-roofed clay houses buried in a green landscape with scattered tropic trees. BEAUTIFUL!!! I hope to get out into the country some more but for the moment; we are re-gathering ourselves in the town of Zomba, searching out internet to guide us to new ministries, and hoping for the best.
So this is Africa.
