It’s Monday evening around ten and the air is filled with excitement and anticipation. Tomorrow is the start of Global Challenge X 2008, we’re set to depart to Zambia as a team around 11am…
Or maybe not! As we were soon to find out the leadership of this
organisation is full of surprises and can never be trusted. They lied to the parents without as much as a sly smile. Challenge 1, Africa Challenge is announced, and what a challenge!
Each team is to raise R2000 through “blikskud” or donations publish a team blog, make and certify 2 copies of every passport and visa, travel to FCE in Masaiti Zambia and arrive with stamps from 4 different countries no later than Friday. For each of the big 5 photographed during the challenge you receive one bonus point. Start time is Tuesday 6am.
After an anxious night’s sleep we set off on the journey of a life time! The yellow and orange team’s set of to Harties to complete the blikskud part of the challenge, in high spirits. “Here we go O.Y.” can be heard for miles or at least for a few meters until our backpacks got the better of us and our backs. In Harties we left our backpacks at the Total garage and the yellow team left for the tunnel where we collected half of our money in less than an hour. From there we got a lift and paid a visit to the local churches where we got our passports and visas copied and certified by ministers all too curious about our journey. Chase Everett (please excuse the spelling, which might be wrong!) was our next stop. These people were such a blessing and helped us without hesitation. We received over R600 donations from them, used their internet and telephone and got a lift back to the garage when we were done.
Our next mission was to get to the Pretoria bus station to catch the 15:10 bus to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. This is where I reached a low… My backpack is killing me, I’m tired and wet and as far as I’m concerned I did not sign up for this! God called me for missionary work, not to run around Hardies with 20kg on my back. I want to go home NOW! Just as I was about to give up God sent Hein our way. Hein is engineer who picked us up and took us all the way to Pretoria bus station even though he was all ready late for his appointment. Hein also blessed us with our last R500 that we had to rise. Hein was not the last but certainly the most curtail angel I was to meet over the next few days.
The fist angel was followed by the first miracle. When we got to the ticket office the tickets were sold out. There was not a moments doubt in our minds that we were suppose to be on that bus and that God would make a plan. We prayed and asked the lady to please check again and… you guessed it - 5 tickets to Bulawayo booked!!! God came through in a way only He could!
On our journey to Bulowayo we met Larry - Angel nr. 2, when we arrived 5am the next morning Larry’s brother gave us a lift to the rank and organised us to get a bus to Vic Falls. We paid R20 each for a journey which is approximately as far as Durban from Jo’burg in South African terms. Half way through the bus ran out of diesel… only in Zimbabwe!!! Luckily another bus was willing to pick us up – free of charge. Also only in Zimbabwe locals felt sorry for the 5 dirty and tired looking white people.
Angel nr. 3 came in the form of a young Zimbabwean who played tour guide to us in the small town of Vic Falls. Unfortunately we did not have the time to enter the falls, but we walked over the bridge – I had to take a moment just to appreciate the beauty only God could create!!! From there we got an African cab to the Botswana border to obtain the extra stamp. The cab ride was an experience! With our luggage tide at the back we prayed for safety! We got a photo of an elephant on the way there which meant 1 bonus point! On our way back the right back tire had to be replaced, the replacement tire was a bit smaller than the other three and to say we had a wobbly ride back to the border is an understatement!
From Vic falls we got a taxi ride to Livingston where we spend the night on a bus in the rank. The next morning we set off to Lusaka and this can be called our nicest trip. Note that nice is in an African context. We decided that it would be wise to pay a visit to the zoo in Lusaka to photograph the rest of the big 5. Why we thought we’d find the big 5 in a zoo in Lusaka only we would know!!! After a R120 cad ride, earnest negotiations for a better price – to no avail and a two hour wait for the guy who said he’d go take the photos, we had a photo of a lion! This gained us no bonus points as we apparently had to take the photo ourselves! From Lusaka we caught the last available bus to Luanchey - this was a tormenting and tiring journey! By now we’ve had at most 10hours sleep since Monday night, had no shower or change of clothes and hardly any food! If I’ve ever been dirty, it is now! And I hate dirt! This was probably my biggest challenge on this journey. When we finally arrived in Luanchey we got a cab ride to the FCE base in Masaiti! We arrived in second place after the orange team and were greeted by a much relived Sulene. She blessed us with the best tasting vetkoek and mice and cup of coffee I’ ve had in my life! And never have a shower felt that good! In total we spend 42 hours on busses, 5 hours in cabs. We crossed the borders of 3 countries in less than an hour, we saw how God provided angels when we most needed it, we weren’t really afraid at all – which could only be because off God’s protection, we saw the beauty of Africa and experienced the heart of nations so easily misjudged and misunderstood. It was hard and something I honestly never want to have t o do again but I’m grateful and blessed for what I’ve seen and experienced!
Love and Blessings
Yellow Team
Written by Jana Dippenaar