Februaru 9, 2010
We're home safe and sound, but after a 12.5 hour trip. The group allowed me to ride in the front the whole trip (and I had a water bottle and wash cloth to cover my face when billows of black exhaust came in the windows) so I did not get ill like on the way down. That's about the only thing that went right. The van that took us half way, picked us up by 7:30 am. We were on the road at 7:45. I'll try to make a long story short.
The wheel on the van was fixed, but it died a couple times. We flooded it out and had to be pushed off the side of the road. A horrible noise under my seat sent us off road again. One thought it was a wheel bearing, another a loose break pad.. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, we drove slowly to the "mechanics". At an intersection there was little shanty (roof only) with lots of cars sitting around, hoods up, and a few people. They said they could take us right then. Off came the wheel, and the proble was a missing bolt on the caliper. So it was replaced: Labor 500 N ($3.33) Parts 100 N ($.67) Unbelievable ! ! ! We've contacted Clement who is meeting us half way to let him know we're on the road again. There are Traffic Safety people out blocking the road every mile or so. At one stop they produced a nail board, so we knew we were in for trouble. It took about 1.5 hours of haggling - we paid 1,000 N and they took the spare tire to insure we'd return to pay more. At this point Nse got angry. He came to the van, got a piece of paper and pen and returned to their "office".(an unbrella, plastic table and chairs) He told them he wanted their number, he was getting the police and he'd be back for his tire with them. Very quickly they decided that we could have our tire back and they wanted us to know out of the goodness of their hearts they were doing this, and since they loved God and we were missionaries they would let us go for only 500 N more.

We finally made it to the meeting place where Clement had been waiting 3.5 hours for us. Switched vans and off we went. We were stopped almost immediately and told our brake lights weren't working. Clement said they were and got out to show them. They tried to find other things wrong, but finally let us go without making us pay. I decided it was us that they had it out for, not the van. We had to drive the last hour in the dark, which isn't good here, but we made it. When we arrived there was no power and the jen wasn't on. So there was much scurrying in the dark to get things lit up. I'm ready for a good night's sleep.