I’m going to attempt to convey a typical day in the life of
a World Racer in Tanzania. Here’s a small snapshot.
Aly and Salley (our squad leaders) were visiting Team
Wellspring in Iringa for a few days on their way to Dar and then Nairobi… it
was so fun to have them here! They came on our off day so we headed out to
Neema Crafts (LOVE it there!) to use the internet, visit Ally (my Tanzanian
friend), and get some good food. The matatu (small taxi van/ bus) on the way
there was packed (as they always are); as a mother and her baby started getting
on the vehicle the attendant decided there wouldn’t be enough room for both of
them to stand so he took the baby out of this woman’s hands and just placed it
on Aly’s lap. It was amazing… I wish I could have taken a picture. Car seats?
No. Fear of other random people holding your child? No. Come on, this is
Africa. Aly proceeded to hold her new little friend all the way until we got
into town. 🙂
We had a glorious day hanging out with the workers at Neema
Crafts, getting caught up on blogs and emails, and we even met some Peace Corps
volunteers who were working in the area! Good times. After a few hours the
group split up and we were going to meet at home later; Aly, Justin and I were
together (mini Team Jubilee reunion!) and we made another stop at an internet
café since it wasn’t working earlier. I lost track of time and before we knew
it the sun was starting to set and we knew we had to bounce (note: one of the
WR rules for Africa is you can’t be out after dark because it’s so dangerous
for mzungus. Oops, that rule was definitely broken!)
We booked it to the stop where we usually catch matatus as
the sun ducked below the horizon; it doesn’t usually take very long to catch
one (in fact we’re often practically grabbed and thrown into the vehicle), but
tonight was a different story. Apparently it was Iringa’s rush hour so all the
vehicles driving by were even more crammed than usual (which is saying a lot),
and none of them said they were going to our stop. We waited there for a good
half hour simply praying, observing matatu after matatu drive by so packed that
limbs were coming out of every window, watching the sky continue to darken, and
wondering if we were ever going to get home. This doesn’t look good, I thought to myself. Oh well, it’s gonna be a good story!
We finally decided we were going to force our way onto the
next matatu that came by, no matter what. Oh
man, we were about to be in for an adventure! Of course the vehicle was
completely full (even by African standards) but we had already committed so we
started to push our way on. As bodies began to squish together even harder I
thought to myself, how in the world are all
three of us going to get on here?? I felt like a linebacker about to barrel
into the opposing team as we all ducked, pushed, contorted, squeezed, hunched,
and crammed into this mosh pit of African bodies. I was bending over, there
were limbs all over me, and I couldn’t see a thing… except Aly’s face, which
was literally an inch away from mine. We were both still squirming to find the
most compact position possible so the attendant could shut the door when
suddenly I heard it slam. Oh my gosh, it
shut. How did that happen?! I thought
to myself. It’s a miracle… bwana Yesu
asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)
It hadn’t even been a minute when Aly suddenly looked at me
and said, “Jenny, you can sit down.� What?!
I thought to myself, sit down on what?
I was crouching down and couldn’t see anything in front of me (besides African
appendages crammed together in the most packed vehicle I’ve ever been in), let
alone anything behind me. But I trusted my Aly girl so I slowly started to bend
my legs a little more than they already were and before long I found a surface
for my bottom. What in the world am I
sitting on? I thought, is this the
floor? I couldn’t move my head enough to look so I cautiously decided to
ask. “Aly, what am I sitting on?� Nope,
it wasn’t the floor. I was sitting on a random African’s lap.
Aly was chuckling softly and I quickly joined in once I
realized how hilarious the situation was. Apparently I had been hovering about
a foot above this person’s lap when we got on the matatu but of course, I
couldn’t see that. There was no other room… literally. The person I was
hovering over had seen the position we were in and told Aly to tell me I could
just sit down. After Aly delivered the news my next question was, “Am I sitting
on a man or a woman’s lap?� Aly had to do some yoga-esque moves to get in a
position to see and soon responded with, “It’s a man.� Perfect, I thought to myself,
this isn’t awkward at all.
Aly and I just started cracking up again and couldn’t stop;
the hilarity of it all made us begin reminiscing about all the good times we
had on Team Jubilee and we were grateful for the opportunity to make a few more
memories together. It’s not a complete day without at least one ridiculous
experience to tell your grandchildren about. Do it for the story, I always say. 😉 At one point I looked up at
Aly, my stomach aching in pain from laughing so hard, and said I was blogging
about this. “Of course you are,â€� she said. “I can’t wait to read it.â€� 🙂
I kept trying to look back and say, “Asante� (thank you) to
this kind man but I don’t think he could hear me; about five minutes later a
whole group of people got off the bus and I got off his lap. Phew! A seat
opened up right next to him and he told me I could sit down there… awesome! An
actual seat… this was a rare luxury indeed! We sat awkwardly next to each other
for a few seconds before he looked over at me and simply said, “You were
sitting on my lap.� I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yea I know… thank you so much! I’m sorry there wasn’t more
room on here,� I said with sincerity.
“Oh it’s ok,� he said, “this
only happens in Africa.�
HAHA… I was so happy he said that! …And of course, I started
laughing again. “This is Africa� is
actually one of our squad’s coined terms because outrageous situations like
this often occur here. We’ve shortened the phrase to simply the initials “TIA�
and there’s a deep sense of understanding whenever any of us use it. To have an
African basically say “TIA� to me was just too perfect.
Again in stifled laughter I forced out, “You’re right. Only in Africa.�
We had a few more exchanges before we made it home; he asked
where we were going, told us he was getting off there too, and directed us when
the stop was approaching. He spoke English (which is rare here) and was super
helpful! I felt like I had formed a pretty intimate bond with this man rather
quickly so I thought I should at least know his name. “Mohammed,� he said. I
introduced myself as well and we were instantly friends (literally, haha). New
friends are always good. 🙂
We finally made it to our stop (praise God!) but still had
another ten minute walk back to the house… in the dark. Oh gosh, here goes nothing. The taxi man almost drove away without
giving us change (trying to take double what we owed) and Justin had to
literally stop the matatu to get it back. Way
to be aggressive, J.Jue! We said our goodbyes, thanks, and blessings to
Mohammed and began our trek back to the house, cracking up the whole time about
the past fifteen minutes of our lives and how entertaining it all was.
As we were about halfway home and still completely in the
dark (street lamps are almost non-existent here) a man came up from behind,
started walking sketchily close to us, and began asking for money. Oh gosh, this isn’t good. We had been
rolling over in laughter only seconds previously but the atmosphere quickly
changed. My body instantly tightened up as I swung my backpack to the front,
held it tight against my body, and began to pray… in the Spirit. 🙂 Aly and I
started walking quickly ahead while J.Jue sternly fended the man off, telling
him we didn’t have anything and that he needed to leave. Good job bud, we felt so protected. 🙂 After a few minutes of
persistence he fell away and relief swept through all of our bodies. THANK
YOU, Jesus!
We continued walking at a quick clip the rest of the way…
not looking back. A few minutes later we arrived safe and sound at home where
the rest of our team was waiting; we began to rehash the last hour of all our
wild escapades to them as they listened with wide eyes and bursts of laughter.
Oh man, what an adventure. Welcome to the World Race. 🙂
“You are my hiding place; you
will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. (Selah)
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you
and watch over you� (Psalm 32:7-8).
(This is an example of one such packed matatu ride; it’s not the one discussed in this blog but it gives you an idea. Our ride was about three times as packed as this.) 🙂
