Day Four- What will not happen?

What will not happen?

   Bright and early the next day we got to the bus station by about 6 am. We sat, sat, and sat some more on bus and waited for it to get filled. An hour later the bus was filled with people and a whole lot of luggage was tied to the roof. We set out on the long journey by 7 am. Little did we know that this day would continue to show us how unpredictable life in Tchad would be for us.

   Setting out on our journey brought reality much closer to me. I was hours closer to where I would be for the next 12 months. God brought me to Tchad for a journey that He paved out for me and that bus ride down meant that there was no turning back now.

We traveled down with the windows open blowing the fresh air on us for relief from the hot bus. We could see for miles ahead the open two lane road that was perfectly made so that one could see the green open fields on both sides that had mud/brick compounds scattered along the way. The bus ride was said to take about 8 hours to Kaylo and then 45 mins to Bere…well as you may have guessed that's not how it turned out. The bus driver got stopped four times for check points by the police, which is more than usual. When the police saw us they took extra time on us, by asking questions about what we were doing or our proof of getting yellow fever vaccine, which does not usually happen. One of the stops Marci and I were questioned for why we didn't have our proof of yellow fever vaccinations with us. I prayed silently that things would work out. After much talk he let us go without even asking for money from us. The driver also stopped a few times for food or bathroom break.

    One of the stops that the driver made was in the middle of the road, so naturally we were wondering what happened. He went to check the battery in the bus and then a huge flame came out of nowhere. Now this made us a little scared. What if the bus blew up? What if we don't make it to Bere? What if we have to wait hours for another bus?? Questions, but no answers. Marci is the only one who can speak French, so she would have to ask all of the questions for us. Many men worked on it and tried to figure out what to do. Finally after over thirty minutes they got the bus working by using a flip flop (very creative). They started to load up the bus right after I decided that I should go use the bathroom. Now I must tell you that we did not stop near any actual restrooms, but rice fields. This meant that I had to hide in the bush and use the bathroom like everyone else did (thankfully we had tissue). Right when I started to use the bathroom the bus driver started to honk for us to come because it was fixed. This made it more embarrassing for me because I was peering over the tall weeds with fear in my eyes while hoping that this would not draw attention to me in the bushes. I hurried up and ran to the bus before it could leave me. By this time we had been on the road for less than five hours. We stopped at this bigger town for the regular pit stop in the trip, which turned into a hoottt hour wait. There were people staring at us Nasaras (term which means foreigners) in curiosity, others screaming the names of products that they are selling by our windows, and a few kids begging. The bus driver came back with a new battery, which comforted us to know that we would not have battery issues anymore. Back on the road we went.

A little while later the air went from warm to crisp and cold, we also noticed that we were driving right into huge dark clouds. The sky opened up and poured down on us for miles and miles. Finally we made it to the city of Kaylo, which is where we get off of the bus. It is approaching the end of rainy season, so the roads can still get really flooded in southern Chad, so we expected that we would not be able to get a car down there, but only motorcycles. We were pleasantly surprised when a driver said he could take us down to Bere. First they had to pack about everyone’s bags from the bus into the back of the truck. The pile grew higher and higher till I could not see out of the back of the window of the cab. While this was going on some people were reassembling the steering wheel and checking the battery and reassuring us that we would be leaving soon. Almost an hour later they said that we were ready to go. There was the driver, a man, lady and child in the front then four of us in the cab. There were 22 people in total in the bed of the truck and on the roof. The other two people who came with us had to sit on top of the roof of the truck. I have never rode in such a compacted vehicle that uses every inch of space for people to sit. I would have taken a picture of this but you have to have your camera registered in order to take pictures or you risk people getting mad or taking camera away. People had to hold on for dear life as we went over bumps, big holes that were full of water, and hope not to fall off into water while the truck struggled to get through. I was definitely praying every time it seemed as though we were going to get stuck. That was the longest 45 minutes that I have ever experienced (ended up being much longer). We eventually made it to our final destination, Bere, at sunset which is 6pm. So the 8-9 hour ride ended up taking us about 11 hours, boy were we happy to make it to Bere. We were greeted by the Parkers and feed a good meal, which made the ride worth it. This was only the beginning of a new life in a place that I now call home. That journey was much longer than I would have liked, but it assured me that God would take care of everything and life just doesn't go as planned. More unexpected things makes life more exciting….maybe not all of the time. J

   There are so many more things that have happened since then (motorcycle ride, police threatening to lock me up, mosquito attack, and naked Sabbath school). So stay tuned for more adventures that I am bound to have here.