Adventure on the Night Bus

I wrote this a couple months ago but thought I'd post it today since I'll be traveling for a couple days. I will be taking the bus down to Lusaka and back again so please keep me in your prayers.

In the middle of August I traveled down to Lusaka, our capital city with Jasmine to pick up our newest volunteers. It was also an opportunity for Jasmine to get away from life at the orphanage and relax. We watched some movies, ate ice cream, said goodbye to a Peace Corps Volunteer who had finished her term of service and enjoyed life in the big city.

Late one night we took a taxi out to the airport and met up with Katherine and Kirstie who were going to volunteer with us for 3 months. It was their first time traveling alone (in fact it was the first time on an airplane for one of them) and so we were glad their 3 airplane rides had been smooth and all their luggage arrived safely and on the same plane--not always the case.

The next afternoon after some shopping for supplies we went to the bus station and bought tickets for the night bus. Because we had so much luggage we were asked to be at the station at 2:30 PM for a 4 PM departure.

At 3:00 we decided to go ahead and sit on the bus because there was nowhere else to go and we were being harassed by people who were excited by the sight of 3 young white girls (myself not included). Vendors singled us out, drunks attempted conversation and children called out 'muzungu, muzungu' over and over.

Finally at 5 PM the bus moved out of the station. Remember our departure time was for 4 PM so by African standards we were off to a good start.

The good start quickly was lost as we spent over an hour at the weigh station 3 hours into the trip. We ate some dinner (cheese, crackers and an apple) around 9 PM and then settled in for the night. As always I had brought my head lamp so I could read during the long journey. No sooner had I turned it on when the conductor shouted "no lights"! I tried to shield the light by holding my pillow over the light and reading low in my lap but nothing doing. "No lights!", he continued to shout. Right after I extinguished my light our two traveling companions decided they needed to find something in their backpack and used a small flashlight to do it. "No lights!!!" was again shouted from the front of the bus. By now most of the passengers were chuckling over this little drama. The conductor had so worked himself into a state that even those unfortunate passengers who attempted to use their phones to check the time were yelled at.

This all took place around midnight so we tried to get comfortable and get some sleep. Just about two hours later we heard a huge bang and felt a thump as the bus began weaving across the road. I prayed urgently for the Lord's protection and the bus slowed down and came to a stop. All the passengers were shouting and wondering aloud what might have happened. Once it became apparent that we had not blown a tire I worried that we had hit a person. There is very little wildlife in Zambia along the roads aside from farm animals and they usually bed down for the night.

As I sat there praying, the conductor boarded the bus and asked if anyone had a torch (flashlight) he could borrow. All the passengers broke into laughter and said "the muzungus do". I passed my headlamp up, chuckling along with the others but also asking "who is thankful now, huh?".

Not being able to control my curiosity anymore as well as knowing what Tom would have done if he'd been there and therefore what he'd require of me, I borrowed Katherine's flashlight and got off the bus to investigate.

This is what I saw first. Complete devastation. We hit a large animal! Everyone was saying what a miracle that the bus had stayed upright. Several people said we must have had angels holding onto the four corners of the bus.

There was animal hair caught in the bus fender. Is the piece in front a fender or a bumper? What's the difference? Someone solve this mystery for me, please!

I moved around to the back of the bus where the men had brought the fallen animal. I still don't know what this is. A waterbuck, bushback, impala? Maybe one of my readers can tell me. I think the poor thing was pregnant.

Upon closer inspection of the front of the bus we found only one headlight remaining and that one was pretty mangled. The conductor and someone else worked to dismantle the wires hanging from the left side of the bus so they could collect enough pieces to get one headlight working. You can see how dark the night was. We were out in the middle of nowhere and the bus didn't even have its hazard or caution lights on so we were sitting ducks right in the middle of the road. When I heard a truck coming I ran to the back of the bus and shone the flashlight back and forth to alert them to our presence.

They had to pull off the rack or whatever that thing is called and put it inside for later.

They managed to pull together enough to get one light working somewhat. At the end they couldn't get the bulb to sit right in the center of the light so they shoved plastic grocery sacks all around to hold it in place. Gotta love what they can do with plastic bags here.

Finally, a working light.

We drove very slowly and finally reached the next major city at 7 AM. After waiting around for a while and then eventually switching buses we made it safely home--12 hours of travel had become 18 hours. We had been on the bus for 20 hours and were so glad to get off. Another episode of African travel behind us.

Trouble by Threes?

We interrupt the happy family vacation photos to bring you th e following news:

The other night as Tom and I were dropping off to sleep Troy came running in to tell us there was a snake in the bathroom. Being that this is a not uncommon occurrence I chose to just stay in bed and sleep.

I was awakened a short time later by Tom coming in the room.

"The power's out", he informed me.

"Oh, ok", I sleepily replied. I was determined to keep my eyes closed and keep resting.

"Oh, and I was bit by the snake".

That woke me up!

Apparently while trying to catch the snake Tom had donned gardening gloves but the snake had found a vulnerable place where the fabric was thin.

Here is the culprit.


This is a stileto snake. Small and not too dangerous looking but it has the ability to bend its fangs backward or upward to catch a handler unawares.

Have no fear, this is not a deadly snake. I would not be casually posting this here if it were--especially since our parents read this blog. What it can do is cause tissue damage. We read up on the snake more thoroughly right away and following advice found in the snake book we gave Tom some Ibuprofen.


You can just make out the tiny dot in between the deep creases. It seemed that only one fang penetrated. According to Tom the pain was minimal and similar to being pricked by a needle.



The next morning a small blister had developed. It was a bit tender to the touch but still seemed contained. We watched it carefully all day as we went about our errands in the small city where we shop.

Today, about 36 hours after the bite the blister looks to be subsiding. We will continue to monitor it for any signs of infection or necrosis.

On our way home from shopping we decided to stop off at some new waterfalls--new to us anyway. The plan was that we would have a quick nap before the drive home. When we got there however, the park guide was so happy to have visitors that he insisted on showing us around.

It was fine though, the nature and beauty was refreshing and we felt much better for the stretch and quick walk. Heading back to the car I brushed up against a bush and felt an intense sting on my arm. I looked to see if a sharp leaf had sliced my arm but couldn't see anything. Almost immediately though a swelling showed up around a pin prick hole which told me the story. There must have been a wasp hidden in the bush.

I was pretty miserable as I got in the car and very quickly began having trouble breathing. I've never had a severe allergic reaction to a bug bite or sting so I was a little surprised. For the next hour I breathed in shallow breaths and tried to think calm positive thoughts and pray.

At home we had epinephrine but that was 2 hours away. Even my inhaler was at home since I share it with two of my boys. God had to heal me. And He did! By the time we got home I was fine.

Just before we reached home our oldest son called to say that a severe storm had hit Kazembe with high winds and heavy rain. There was a lot of damage in and around our property.



Some of the grass sections of the roofs only look like their hair was mussed up a bit.



Others have whole sections peeled right back. This roof even shows signs of having lifted completely up because there are cracks and stress fractures in the brick. Praise God that it stayed put.



Huge portions of our fence were also blown down. Thankfully, the new wire fence is fine so it was only the grass fence that blew down.

The most damage we saw was to the Mutomboko arena next to our property. It lost most of its roofing sheets with many of them flying into our property.




This sheet blew hundreds of yards before landing in our garden. Another praise is that no one was hurt by these flying sheets of tin.


Here is our new gate which was bent by the wind. The tin even ripped.

Reading over this post I'll bet you share my hope that trouble only comes in threes and that we'll have some respite.

Please allow this narrative to remind you to pray for missionaries all over the world for their protection.

Until next time, may God bless and keep you on your own personal adventures.

Love!

Amy