It’s hard to believe the condition of the single main ‘highway’ from the tourist center of Zambia to the capital city was in such deplorable conditions. Our driver was a little more aggressive on the return trip. What took 7½ hours, not counting the time pushing the bus, took about 3. We saw 3 different road crews along the way. Village children filling bags of dirt and pouring it into the pot hole a few hundred yards ahead of us, then holding out their hands for payment as we pass. The second road crew consisted of young men each with a brand new shovel and pickax digging a trench about 50 feet from the road. The third crew consisted of a grader and bulldozer and maybe a dozen men. The machines were widening the shoulder of the road as the men watched. Nothing was being done to fix the roads. I don’t understand… there must have been many hundreds of tandem tractor trailers using the 2 lane road alone with busses, other vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians yet nothing being done to improve the infrastructure. 
We left the hotel about 11:30am and midway into the trip, after ‘the road’ area, a police man came running into the middle of the road requiring us to stop. He told the driver to be aware there were reports of 2 men dressed in black stopping busses at gunpoint. He said because of the pirates, the checkpoints would be open and we were not required to stop. What a rush! Another obstacle to lean upon the Lord. Passing through the next town, I saw 4 police officers talking with 3 men dressed in black, I never thought this would be a potential problem in Zambia. Unity Camp in reality! As we cruised along the highway, remember this is about the size of Parker Street in front of the church, we were traveling about 130 – 150 K or 80-90mph passing slower vehicles as needed a bull decided to cross the road about 50 feet in front of us. Dennis had passed the bull while it was on the shoulder and blew the horn trying to distract it, I guess that’s where the term bull-headed comes from, because it just kept on going. Our driver locked up the brakes, we prayed; rather cried out in total panic and swerved into the oncoming traffic which was light, and missed the fool thing. That I somewhat expected at some point. Continuing more than ¾ of the way back to Lusaka it became dark. This I think was the most terrifying ride I have ever been on. The lights from the oncoming vehicles just blinded me; I prayed the driver could see. We would go from 70 mph to about 30 mph as the vehicles approached. Then there were the pothole that was about every 100 feet and the pedestrians walking or riding their bikes who knows where in the dark. I was scared! At about 7:30p in the dark of the night, we came upon a tandem tractor trailer that had driven off the road. The driver didn’t appear to be hurt, but it just added to our stress. Finally about 8:30 we arrived back to the hotel in Lusaka. Dennis released the bus as we were leaving in different shifts to the airport the next morning. We had dinner in the Hotel restaurant and were the only ones there. They told us the menu, they had 2 steaks, 4 pieces of fish and plenty of chicken or pork chops. I brought me back to the reality of Zambia vs. the United States. This hotel was built I would guess in the 1940’s. It must have been beautiful in it’s day. They seem to have upgraded in the mid 60’s and not done anything since. We had no hot water, when you turned the valve, nothing came out. We had cold at the sink so long as we didn’t flush the toilet. The room was clean, the people sweet, but both Elaine and felt the depression within the walls. We all miss home, and are looking forward to seeing everyone in a few hours. Our plane leaves at 1:50p to Johannesburg and then 6p back to the States. God has done some amazing things within and through us. Life here is simple and will continue that way long after we leave; hopefully for those lives we had the privilege to touch it is a better place. As the crew from Kafulafuta disperses throughout the United States, I pray we will be bringing a little bit of Africa home to share. When you are touched by God, you are never the same. Thanks for putting us in that position. Jim and Elaine
We left the hotel about 11:30am and midway into the trip, after ‘the road’ area, a police man came running into the middle of the road requiring us to stop. He told the driver to be aware there were reports of 2 men dressed in black stopping busses at gunpoint. He said because of the pirates, the checkpoints would be open and we were not required to stop. What a rush! Another obstacle to lean upon the Lord. Passing through the next town, I saw 4 police officers talking with 3 men dressed in black, I never thought this would be a potential problem in Zambia. Unity Camp in reality! As we cruised along the highway, remember this is about the size of Parker Street in front of the church, we were traveling about 130 – 150 K or 80-90mph passing slower vehicles as needed a bull decided to cross the road about 50 feet in front of us. Dennis had passed the bull while it was on the shoulder and blew the horn trying to distract it, I guess that’s where the term bull-headed comes from, because it just kept on going. Our driver locked up the brakes, we prayed; rather cried out in total panic and swerved into the oncoming traffic which was light, and missed the fool thing. That I somewhat expected at some point. Continuing more than ¾ of the way back to Lusaka it became dark. This I think was the most terrifying ride I have ever been on. The lights from the oncoming vehicles just blinded me; I prayed the driver could see. We would go from 70 mph to about 30 mph as the vehicles approached. Then there were the pothole that was about every 100 feet and the pedestrians walking or riding their bikes who knows where in the dark. I was scared! At about 7:30p in the dark of the night, we came upon a tandem tractor trailer that had driven off the road. The driver didn’t appear to be hurt, but it just added to our stress. Finally about 8:30 we arrived back to the hotel in Lusaka. Dennis released the bus as we were leaving in different shifts to the airport the next morning. We had dinner in the Hotel restaurant and were the only ones there. They told us the menu, they had 2 steaks, 4 pieces of fish and plenty of chicken or pork chops. I brought me back to the reality of Zambia vs. the United States. This hotel was built I would guess in the 1940’s. It must have been beautiful in it’s day. They seem to have upgraded in the mid 60’s and not done anything since. We had no hot water, when you turned the valve, nothing came out. We had cold at the sink so long as we didn’t flush the toilet. The room was clean, the people sweet, but both Elaine and felt the depression within the walls. We all miss home, and are looking forward to seeing everyone in a few hours. Our plane leaves at 1:50p to Johannesburg and then 6p back to the States. God has done some amazing things within and through us. Life here is simple and will continue that way long after we leave; hopefully for those lives we had the privilege to touch it is a better place. As the crew from Kafulafuta disperses throughout the United States, I pray we will be bringing a little bit of Africa home to share. When you are touched by God, you are never the same. Thanks for putting us in that position. Jim and Elaine
0 comments:
Post a Comment