As you can see below, we are ready to pack our six shipping containers with school and home supplies for the next 10-month tour with Village Schools Tanzania. Each bin weighs 23 kg, or 51 pounds.
Loaded in our daughter's van, Natalie and our son, Gideon, drove us to the O'Hare Airport in Chicago on Wednesday, Sept. 7th, for our 8:05 PM flight to London.
Gideon at the wheel . . .
After an eight hour layover in London, we met the other six teachers going in at the departure gate and enjoyed brief conversations before boarding. We were sitting behind another married teaching couple, Carl and Pam, and across the aisle from a couple of the girls, so got to continue our chat during the flight.
Janerose met us at the Dar-es-Salaam airport after our all-night flight. Notice that Janerose is holding her little girl, Tumaini. Our luggage was loaded into a hired truck and a taxi van took us to the hotel where we very promptly showered and took naps.
We had a 1:00 lunch, a 7:00 supper, surrounded by naps, and then were up at 4:30 A.M. to prepare for a wild ride through the city for the 6:30 bus departure. So began a very wild adventure for us . . .
There was no room on the Sumry bus for our luggage, so we were separated from the rest of the group and given to ride on this wonderful 40 passenger bus, sitting in the second to the last row, behind the wheels. There are not a lot of posted speed limit signs in Tanzania, but the highways have speed bumps to keep people under control. Still, hitting these bumps at 55 or 60 while sitting in the back of the bus is a jolting experience, even with the seatbelt fastened!
Even though the bus may be called an Express, there are, in actuality, milk stops along the way. There are three other scheduled stops where passengers are allowed to stretch: two for potty breaks in the bush and one in the middle for a 15 minute lunch and potty. Vendors have packaged meals for bus passengers.
During the stops for passengers departing and boarding, vendors come to the bus windows. Joanne was more active than usual in the bartering, buying cashews, oranges, bananas, water and short bread biscuits.
Heading out across the nation involved various landscapes:
Fiber plant plantations.
Passing through the national wildlife preserve was uneventful this trip, seeing only a couple of groups of antelope, a few baboons, and this group of cape buffalo. Can't see them? Sorry, it was the best shot after getting the camera in position.
Through the gorge, where they have begun to install guard rails. Praise God!
Through the land of the ancient baobab trees . . .
and through winding mountain roads littered with capsized semi trucks and trailers.
Did I mention that the speed bumps come in series of three, with each speed bump consisting of three to five mounds? We are still bouncing along on what will end up being a 15 1/2 hour trip.
Our favorite scenery, apart from the baobab trees, are these mountains strewn with giant bounders. As it was growing into evening, these are the last photos taken, but not the last of our adventures.
VST policy is to collect the passports of its teachers in order to keep them safe and acquire the proper resident visa insertion. Because we had that done during our first tour, we were allowed to keep our passports last year, and assumed the same would be the case this year. However, because our visas were due to expire this October, they needed to be handed over to VST. No problem; we were traveling with Janerose, who was carrying our passports. Also, VSI has advised its teachers to carry colored photocopies.
Do you see a train wreck coming?
When we were put on a separate bus, I (Gary) got a bit of a sinking feeling in my gut; I sure wish I had those photocopied passports with us. We’d left them in the States. I’d also failed to pull our cell phone from one of the six luggage containers.
Hours later, with only three more hours between us and our destination, I was beginning to relax, which was about when the bus stopped and two immigration officials marched the length of the bus to ask to see our passports. Time stopped; the next half hour was at least six hours long. We were asked to get off of the bus, in the middle of nowhere and the sun setting. Other passengers got off of the bus to stretch and no doubt get an ear full of what was going on. All six of our storage bins, two suitcases and back packs were piled on the side of the road, and the bus wanted to leave. Even though we were able to show them our passports via photos on our laptop, the officials said that was not sufficient without current visas and we would not be allowed to continue.
We prayed! We begged! We looked as helpless, humble and innocent as possible. And the Lord sent his ministering angels, one from Zambia and another from out of mid air. The man from Zambia had been sitting across from us on the bus and offered us his phone to use. He had a second and assured me that he would call me with news of help when they reached Mbeya. The other man, large and smartly dressed, took the immigration officials aside and convinced them that what they should do is allow us and our luggage to continue. "There are agents in Mbeya that you can call to intercept these people without causing them so much trouble. They are here to help our people," he told them. Although these officials had told us there is no way they could allow us to continue, they agreed with this man . . . who did not get on the bus . . . Who says God is distant from our daily needs?
When we arrived in Mbeya, we gathered our belongings and headed for the front of the bus, only to be met by Boni, our headmaster, who told us to sit back down. We continued on the bus on its way to Tunduma, stopping at the junction where we were loaded in a small transport truck and taken home to Idigima. It was 10:00 at night and cold. Joanne and another woman rode with the driver in the cab. Seven others, Boni and I (Gary), with all of the luggage and bins, rode in the back.
Sifaeli and Agripa met us with humungous hugs, laughter and dancing. A girl teacher brought us a big plate of scrambled eggs and a thermos of very sweet tea. Tanzy never left our sides, very happy to see us and still pregnant! What is the gestation period of a cat? She was big when we left in June. Although I (Gary) had hopes of surprising some students by showing up for church in the village Sunday morning, I must confess that I was unconscious until nearly noon. We spent the day hauling water, cleaning the house and sorting through things new and old, and greeting other teachers.
What became of the Mbeya immigration officials? As near as we can figure, they had gotten in touch with Boni and VST at Madisi, who assured them that copies of our documents would be faxed to them on Monday.
Thanks of praise go out from us to all of our faithful prayer supporters. See how much we need you?!!! Tomorrow we greet the students!
Love,
Gary and Joanne
*Editor’s note: Believe it or not, the train wreck photo was NOT taken by the Grenells. It, and the passport image, were located from an on-line search and inserted by the blogmaster :)
