We had a fantastic debrief in Livingstone, Zambia. We slept in our tents at a nice hostel/campground in the city. When we didn’t have our team debrief or one-on-ones with the squad leaders and coaches, we had free time to explore the city do some sightseeing. I went on a safari in Botswana. It was amazing! Our last day in Livingstone, our coaches took us all to Victoria Falls and out to a nice dinner. We had a fantastic day. The falls were amazing. We got soaked from the spray, danced on the bridge under a rainbow, and watched the sunset over the falls. Then we had dinner at a gorgeous resort just down the road from the falls.
That night each team did a SNL-style skit about life on the race. They were hilarious. Then we had some team changes. I am now on a new team: Team Mates. I’m excited about my new team and moving into month 7 in Malawi.
I got back to the camp site and set my alarm to get up the next morning to pack before our 20-hour bus ride from Livingstone to Lilongwe.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get much sleep. I woke up after about 20 minutes and realized I hadn’t simply overdone it at the dinner buffet. My digestive system was rebelling against something I’d eaten.
I spent the next six hours on the floor of the hostel bathroom. I finally got a break around 630 when my body didn’t so much surrender as it had nothing left in it to protest. As people started waking up and moving around, I asked for a squad leader. I had no idea how I would last 20 hours on a bus when I hadn’t been able to go 20 minutes without being sick all night. What’s more, I had to take down my tent and pack up all my stuff before we even got on the bus. I was so sick, exhausted, and dehydrated at that point that it hurt even to think about packing.
One of my squad leaders came bringing gifts of Phenergan (I was so excited). Other squad mates checked in on me, brought me water, prayed for me, and made sure there was nothing else I needed. Even random people at the hostel stopped to ask how I was and offer me their anti-nausea meds and electrolyte powders. I was quite a spectacle: curled up in my sleeping bag by the sink in the front of the bathroom (I had given up the stall I had held hostage all night but wasn’t willing to move too far away).
If I was too sick to make the bus ride, I would have to stay behind with a squad leader. This complicates things in many ways from squad finances to travel arrangements to border crossings to pick up arrangements with our hosts in the next country. I did not want to stay behind. I was, however, fairly helpless as to the outcome at that point.
Thankfully, God gave me C-Squad. While several members of C-Squad were getting me properly medicated and attempting to get me hydrated, several other members were taking down my tent and packing up all my stuff. Let me emphasize that this is not a small thing. I hate packing. HATE it. It’s the ugly downfall to loving to travel and it’s treacherously and mercilessly necessary every few weeks on the race. I have become a master over the years of stuffing every last inch of space in suitcases and backpacks and for this year, I have outdone myself. My pack and daypack both are like advanced Tetris games. I felt guilty that not only did my friends have to master level 8000 on my behalf but they had to master it in less than 2 hours after getting themselves packed up and ready.
I continued to lie in various odd positions on the bathroom floor oblivious to who had my stuff or where it went. At one point, someone brought me clothes so I wouldn’t have to travel in my pajamas. Then I had several people walking me to the bus juggling me, my sleeping bag, water bottle, and packets of pills. Even in all the chaos, they remembered to check for my passport.
They saved me two seats near the front so I could stretch out a bit and hopefully sleep. If I needed to stop I had easy access to the driver and the door. God answers prayer because I slept the whole trip waking up only long enough to get my passport stamped.
It could have been a horrible experience. I could have still been in Zambia. But God gave me just what I needed to get through. I love my C-Squad!
