We have been here in Sumbuwanga, Tanzania for the month of May.
Our four days of travel to get here were the most eventful travel days
of the last 8 ½ months, without a doubt! This blog will take you into the life of a World Racer on a travel “day”. Enjoy!
Day One
(8
hours of travel) Alicia, Tommy, Noah, Leanne and I
left early in the morning from Karen Camp, where we had had our eight month debrief
and rest time. Our cab driver picked us
up late, so she was in a hurry to get us to the bus station. Let’s just say that this particular cab ride
was like living inside of an Xbox 360 with a 13 year old boy controlling our
every move on a high speed cop chase. It
was insane, but we made it safely! The
van we took was probably the most comfortable transportation we had had all
Race. We each had our own row of seats
and it was AMAZINGLY relaxed! Little did
we know we should embrace it to the fullest because what lay ahead was a crazy
adventure. We were able to cross the
border, as women from the Masaai tribe surrounded us trying to get us to buy
bracelets, necklaces and trinkets of all kinds.
Once we walked across, we hopped aboard our van to finish making it to
Arusha. The scenery of Tanzania was
breathtaking, far different than our last two months in Africa. It looks exactly what I have imagined Africa
to look like – mud huts with straw on the top, women and men in tribal
clothing, beautiful green pastures filled with animals – we even saw zebras,
camels and gazelle on our way in!
Once
we arrived, we made our way to a hotel where we booked a room fit for maybe
three or four, but chose to cram all five of us in with our giant packs. On the World Race, you do everything you can
to save money. Plus, it serves as a
great opportunity to make memories! Once
we settled in, we headed out to book bus tickets for the following day and find
sim cards for our phones. The people
seemed very intrigued by us, as I’m assuming not many people make it down to
Tanzania. We met a guy named Suki, who helped
show us around and complete all the things we needed to get done. He was a tall African man with dreads, a
large smile always stamped on his face, and as we found, popular. Friends of his would chant his name from the
busses driving past us, while waving happily.
We took him out to eat and listened to his story. He was raised by a loving family with 4 other
siblings. We learned that he had a daughter
that he didn’t get to see very often because he was no longer dating the
mother. The way in which he talked about
his daughter displayed the unlimited love he had for her. Once the sun started to go down, we said our
farewell, prayed with him and went on our way to eat dinner (which consisted of
oatmeal and carrots with sweet chili sauce for me – haha) and get a good
night’s rest for a long bus ride the next day.
Day Two
(16
hours of travel) We unwillingly awoke at 5 AM to
get ready to leave for our 6 AM bus ride.
We groggily gathered our belongings and headed downstairs to catch a
taxi to our bus. After haggling with the
taxi driver of how much to pay, we boarded our bus and were on our way to our
second stop, Iringa. It was the bumpiest
bus ride I had ever experienced! Not
because of the dirt roads, but because of the speed bumps that were driven over
confidently by our bus driver. It was
funny at first, but after the second or third time of flying midair out of my
seat, my back didn’t seem to take it as nicely when we would land. At one point, the majority of the bus was
sleeping and the driver hit a bump so hard that it woke the drunk guy up that
had been sitting next to us. Without
hesitation, he let everyone know how he was feeling and imitated the bus
driver. It served for a good laugh. After a while of listening to him yell loudly
as he conversed with those around us, we began to have a conversation with
him. Noah was eventually able to get
him to a place of talking about Jesus.
He was asking a ton of questions and seeking the right answers to
thoughts it seemed he had had for a while.
The next part is super cool – He was speaking so loudly that it caused a
guy sitting next to Alicia and Leanne to ask what the gospel was and who Jesus
was. Through discussion, he ended
accepting the Lord into his heart as his Savior! It was one of the greatest moments! The drunk guy even seemed to be excited to
know more about the Bible and Jesus.
Once we arrived in Iringa and it was time to get off of the bus, he
stated, “I’m a police officer in Sumbuwanga!
I will protect you!” It’s funny
the people God brings among your path…
We
ended the evening making it to one of our World Race contact’s house, where we
stayed and hung out with two of our teams and rested our heads for our next
day’s journey.
Day Three
(10
hours of travel) This was a long, very eventful
day. We said our goodbyes to our fellow
Racers and hopped on the bus at 8 AM, ready for another quest. Noah willingly traveled with us so we
wouldn’t have to travel alone as three girls.
(I will brag right here – Our K-Squad men RULE. They are always looking out for us! And because of them, we’ve maybe had to carry
our bags 3 times? Haha…) Overall, it was a pretty boring bus ride, but
once we arrived to Mbeya, the fun began.
We hopped off of the bus and people trying to sell us tickets to
Sumbuwanga immediately surrounded us.
They are all pretty competitive with their businesses, I might say. We saw it as an opportunity to snag a ride
instead of having to stay another night in an African town. We bought our tickets for a private car and
frantically ran with our bags to the vehicle.
We breathlessly trekked up a hill where the car was sitting to find that
it was completely full with people. The
men tried to get us to pile in, but after refusing, they then tried to make
people get out because we had paid more (which is a common thing here in
Africa). We again refused and requested
that we get our money back. Long story
short, we only got half of our money back and they refused to give us the
rest. On top of that, they wouldn’t
allow us to share a room at a hotel we walked into nor would they allow me to
use the restroom, so we were stuck trying to figure out what we were going to
do to ensure that we would be safe for the night. Luckily, the World Race is an organization
that has thousands of contacts around the world, so we were able to hook up
with a pastor that generously housed us and fed us for the night. They were one of the sweetest families we had
stayed with and were ready to enjoy good conversation and treat us as their own
children. It was a HUGE blessing and we
got the best rest we had had in 3 days, fueled for one last bus ride the next
morning! The Lord always provides!
Day Four
(11
hours of travel) After a great night’s rest and a
delicious breakfast of tea and chapatti, our Pastor took us to the bus stop and
we were on our way on our last bus ride to Sumbawanga. It was pretty monotonous, slow and boring the
first couple of hours, but as soon as we made a stop, some random vendors got
on to sell things. A couple of them
stayed along for part of the ride, one being a preacher! He spoke for about two hours and at one
point, had the entire bus singing African worship songs to the Lord! It was an entertaining experience, to say the
least. We slept a lot and made it safely
to the two teams awaiting our arrival.
Sumbawanga looked just as we had imagined. A small town of only about 150,000 people, it
has beautiful landscapes with plenty of children that love “mzungu,” also known
as the white people. We are staying in a
section of a house that a family live in.
There is a little dog and many chickens, even a little chick (There were
two, but a little boy stepped on one!), that run around the cemented yard. We do our laundry by hand and have a bucket
shower with a squatty potty. We are super thankful for this month!
We
have been speaking in the church and have also been sharing door-to-door, helping
out at orphanages, a deaf school and a home that houses street children. So far, it’s been an amazing month, filled
with tons of memories, laughter and spiritual stretching that has pushed us
even further into growth!
Stay tuned for blogs that explain some of the growth I’ve been experiencing!
