Sun burnt, sweating, hungry, dehydrated, and no personal space. This is the existence I was living in for the 48+ hour journey from Malawi to Zimbabwe. Because our budget is limited on the race, we booked a bus to get us across the boarders of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It supposedly was a private bus line, yet we shared it with several Malawians on their way to South Africa. 67 seats and 85 people. I have never been confined to such a small space for so long. You were constantly touching somebody else, and could not move around without bumping someone by accident.
We started our journey at 6pm Friday night and drove through the night to arrive in Lilongwe, Malawi at 2:30am. We spent the next 3 hours hanging out in a random parking lot waiting for our next bus to be cleaned. I knew I hit a mental low when I face timed my mom after we got on the next bus. I had a little data left on the local sim I bought and I thought face-timing her would help pass some time.
Right away she cheerfully asked “where are you at on your travel journey?” I responded with “we just got on our second bus to begin the next 17 hours of the drive through Mozambique.” Then all of a sudden I had tears running down my face. 17 MORE HOURS. It was 6am on Saturday morning and at that point I had not slept since Thursday night. I was overwhelmed with the reality that I had to sit in a small space pressed up against the window for another 17 hours. And that was not the end, we still had another 6 hours on Sunday to get to our host’s home.
Looking at my mom, unable to speak, I was overcome with the desire to go home where it was comfortable. There would be no reason to be pressed up against a window for two days without the ability to use a bathroom when I needed it. I wouldn’t have to sit in the hot sun for five hours at the Mozambique border waiting for visas either. And rolling in some Chicago snow sounded preeeeetty nice.
Another low moment came in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. Our place in Malawi was very cool, mostly 60s and 70s. But when I opened my eyes around 3pm on the bus, I could have sworn we drove right into hell, or as my teammate Averi would say, “Satan’s crotch.” The heat was so intense, I felt like I was in a sauna. And since I wasn’t prepared to be outside on the border so long, I never applied sunscreen and I was as red as a tomato. Thus, the wind blowing through the window felt like sandpaper against my skin, but I guess it was better than no breeze at all.
Sun burnt, sweating, hungry, dehydrated, and no personal space. This was my existence for 48+ hours.
But now I am writing this in a comfy bed in a renovated hotel, that is a safe home for abused girls. With a full night of horizontal sleep, I look back on these last 48 hours with a little bit of humor and great relief. I am no longer overwhelmed with the desire to go home. During lunch today we even spent time swapping stories of our experiences. Training camp did not quite prepare us for peeing on the side of the road and rubbing butts with complete strangers!
With all this said, I have great expectation that God has awesome things planned for us here, and I am looking forward to updating you all on how this traveling nightmare was completely worth it.
