Alright y’all, we are about to leave Africa so I thought I should probably share some stories about the peculiar things that really only happen in Africa. It’s a bit long but bear with me, I had to narrow it down to even just this because there is so much more I could share..like the fact that we lived with no running water, no toilet, hardly any electricity and rats in the ceiling of our house..but I’ll spare you that and just stick to a few highlights.
December 11, 2017:
It appears to be a normal day just sitting on the back porch of our home in Madisi, Malawi while we do our dishes. Not out of the ordinary all the village kids run up to us laughing. They hold up what they had found with that proud look on their face. All of our eyes turned huge. They had this tiny little blue bird tied to a string…the worst part, it was still alive. We desperately tried to tell them to let it go, but the language barrier just wouldn’t do it. Ever think about those times when you’re trying to fly away, but you’re just tied down? Yep. That was this moment in an image.
December 21, 2017:
Can you remember the feeling of being sick and at your absolute worst? Okay so take that down a notch because I’m an over-exaggerator, but imagine you are feeling pretty crappy and you just found out you had a bacterial infection. Okay so then get onto a hot minibus for a 2 hour drive home from the city.
Pretty rough feeling anyways. Well let’s make it better, we’ll put about 8 more people than the bus was actually created to carry..one of them practically in my lap. (It took everything in me not to throw up)
Okay so then it gets even better, the back seat window blows up all over one of the girls we were living with. Glass everywhere.
Ish. I wish I was joking, but this is an accurate description of that day.
December 25, 2017:
It’s Christmas morning, banana pancakes are cooking and Team United is celebrating with a little song and dance to all of their downloaded Christmas songs. Again, not out of the ordinary, all of the village kids were staring in the windows in awe at us. Ever been to the zoo? Yep. That’s what this felt like except we were the attraction.
Next up, try washing your delicates on the porch with all the village kids staring wide eyed at the white girls doing normal life.
I’ll never understand the fascination.
January 6, 2018:
3:48am: Get up to go to the bus to meet the rest of the squad.
4:50am-9:21am: Bus to Mozambique border.
9:22am-1:34pm: Wait in lines for visas to Mozambique.
1:35pm-7:01pm: Drive through Mozambique to Zimbabwe border.
Let’s pause here a minute so I can paint a picture. It’s very very hot outside. Our bus once again has way more people on it than there were supposed to be & Chels and I somehow ended up in the back of the bus with no windows.
We were sitting in a pool of our own sweat, it was too hot to do anything including talking or listening to music. I thought I was near the end and this bus ride could not have gone any slower.
7:01pm-10:15pm: Wait at Zim border for visas.
10:15pm-1:06am: Drive to Harare to be picked up by hosts friends.
3:21am: Crawl into whatever bed we could find.
January 18, 2018:
“Can you teach swim lessons to the preschool kids?” HECK YEA I CAN. I was pumped.
*in walks 17 Zimbabwean preschool kids in their underwear that don’t speak a lick of English
January 28, 2018:
7:31pm: We were planning to head out to the bus at 5:30 the next morning… Still hadn’t started packing and we were at a big old Brie (BBQ) with all of our friends from Lasting Impressions camp.
8:23pm: downpour happens, the Americans get rushed to the car to go home and pack, leaving everyone behind without even a single goodbye.
9:45pm: Team United is still packing…power goes out. Now it’s packing in the dark.
February 6, 2018:
It’s 6:00am and we are loading the bus for our 10 hour ride from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to Gaberone, Botswana.
24 hours later and we finally made it. Yep. 24.
While we were at the border of Botswana and after we went through border patrol, we found out the bus we were riding didn’t have the proper paperwork to cross over the border. So we were good, but our ride was not. We were literally stuck in no man’s land. The in-between place of two countries. Immediately we started praying. 20 minutes later an empty bus pulls up. We all died laughing as our logistics girls went over to talk to the driver. He couldn’t actually give us a ride, but he agreed to help us… as he walked away his shirt read “Angel”.
I’m laughing even as I write this. We literally just met a legit angel.
We then waited for our new bus to get there so we could finally make it to Gabs by about 5:30 the next morning.
February 17, 2018:
It’s a Saturday. Everything about this day feels like Saturday. It was our first day off all month so we slept in, got ready for the day slowly and headed into Gabs to hang out at Mugg & Bean (our favorite coffee shop) for some good coffee and wifi.
After spending the day chilling at a coffee shop the girls decide it’s time to head back home before it gets too late.
As we are waiting at the bus stop we don’t see many buses going to Mochudi. So of course when one comes up we jump at the chance to get home. All the people in the bus scooted over to make room.
What we didn’t realize when we got on though was that this bus was full of men… It was a soccer team on their way home from a match that they had just won. They quickly asked us if they were allowed to play music. We of course agreed.
Picture a party bus packed with 8 more people than it’s supposed to fit. Sounds bomb, right? It didn’t take long for us to realize that all these guys were actually celebrating with some beers. Okay, no big deal. We can handle that, we just needed to get home.
I looked up from my place, squished between a man that was trying to take all the selfies and my teammate, Kristie, to see the driver lift his own bottle to his lips and take a swig. My eyes got huge and my face turned panicked. I turned to our mentor, Amy, who was with us for the weekend and told her what I had seen. Immediately all of us that were aware of the situation started praying for the ride. I was slowly dying inside because this would only ever happen here.
After running a red light we decided to get off the bus at whatever the next stop was to catch a different ride home.
Once again, the Lord provided us with a safe way to get home.
February 22, 2018:
3:40am: I woke up to the sound and the feeling of rain. Oye. There’s a leak in the roof and it just happens to be right above my pillow. Not just a little leak either, but enough to make a large piece of my bed very wet. Very groggy and tired I scooted down to the bottom half of my bed and fell asleep for the rest of the night.
When I woke up the next morning my teammate Janele asked me why I didn’t just get out of bed and move to a different one… I really had no answer but what a good devo this could be.
Instead of leaving the problems in our life and moving to a new bed, we often times just scoot around them so we’re not in the direct line of fire, but it’s still there in your life and you’re still being affected.
Ish. All the things that go unplanned, all of the randoms clinging to the “white people,” all the times you’re eating in a restaurant completely forgetting you’re even in Africa until they come back and say that they don’t have anything that you had just ordered.
I love this continent. It’s heartbreaking to say goodbye to a place like this but I can’t wait to come back someday.
