A Cross-Country Bus Ride

I awakened Friday morning to knocks on the door, Edwin attempting to rouse me, which is no small task, given my great hearing difficulties. It was 8:00 a.m., far later than intended. I had been awake several hours during the night and had fallen asleep again close to dawn. I hurried and had time for breakfast before the taxi arrived to take us to the bus stand. Edwin located our Dodoma bus among dozens jammed together without any obvious plan. Our Shabiby Line bus was air-conditioned, an unexpected advantage given the already sweltering heat of the day. We claimed the last seats available at the back of the bus.

The bus pulled out of its place at the scheduled time, 9:50 a.m., only to be stopped in a traffic stand-still for at least 20 minutes, but then we were on the highway to Dodoma, soon seeing the typical sights of settlements alongside the highway with their jumble of shops and crowds of people. A little later, we are in open country, the villages further between but no less crowded and active At occasional stops, food and drink sellers line the outside of the bus, although disappointed at ours with its closed windows. The most common product is small packages of raw cashews, but there are also bananas and much else. Our cool bus moves on toward its first major stop at Morogoro, where we experience the challenges of a typical African choo away from city luxury and American-style toilets, and lines of passengers at take-out food counters, a scene with many camera opportunities.

Being Portlanders, we get a feel of home as the bus negotiates the constant road humps that are the primary means of traffic control along the highway. Always these appear near a settlement, but turn up in many more places. Seated at the far back of the bus, well behind the rear wheels, we are treated to a memorable jolt each time the bus rolls over a road hump, usually at somewhat beyond the recommended speed, it seems.

We had been on the road only a few minutes after leaving Morogoro when there is a loud bang and flapping—a blow-out. The bus limps to the side of the road, still several feet on the roadway. Almost everyone leaves the bus to stand in the shade under trees in the ditch beside the road and watch the strenuous efforts of our driver and the bus conductor to raise the bus, remove the wheel, and the spare—and we begin to realize that they cannot use the spare tire, which later we saw was a treadless candidate for a second blow-out. Amazingly, another Shababy bus of the same type, on its way to Dar from Dodoma, stopped, deposited its spare tire, then rolled on to Dar without a spare, a loving act indeed! That wheel was soon mounted, although by this time, at least an hour has been added to our trip, and we were on our way again.

Now, for reasons unexplained, there is no air-conditioning but it's also obvious that the driver is trying to make up for that hour of delay, most noticeable as we cross the speed humps at considerably higher speed. Dave, Edwin, and I are propelled several inches into the air at most of the humps. It's hot and quite airless at the far back. I doze off, and when I awaken, the AC is once again obvious and windows are closed, but still the bumps. We arrive in Dodoma just as the sun is setting, near 6:30 p.m. Edwin locates a taxi that takes us to the MAF (Missionary Aviation Fellowship) guest house where we will stay for almost 2 ½ weeks. We have a comfortable room, shared choo (American-style) and shower, and breakfast foods available for our own preparation, a familiar location to me since Annette and I spent several nights here during our 2009 stay. Tomorrow we get into Edwin's full schedule for us at Iringa Rd. Mennonite Church, but most important, our opportunity to greet friends, to see our sponsor child, Charles, and to simply revel in the joy and intensity of the life and ministry of that energetic church.

Yes, here we are, far from home, 11 hours time differential, 51 degrees latitude south of Portland in the southern hemisphere, 158 degrees longitude east of Portland, almost half-way around the world, and all is well,while ahead of us, expected and unexpected,are challenges and blessings beyond compare. What fun!