Setting up Camp

Things never go as planned in Africa...

That being established, let me tell you about my day. You know we have 3 houseguests right now--Paw, Steve, and Josh. Last night was their first night here and the power was off for 2 1/2 hours!

This morning, we got them all packed up with camping gear and they headed off to church in the bush. The plan was for them to worship at Nsanti Baptist Church, eat a traditional meal cooked by the pastor's wife, and then call me when they left (around 1pm) so that I could meet them at the campsite with the ice chest holding the food they would need for their trip.

So 1pm gets here..and still no call. But my patience with my children was gone, so I figured we would just head that way and get there a little early and let the kids run around. I was almost there when Blu finally calls at 2pm. He was calling to tell me that church ran long, and the food still wasn't ready yet. Hmm..that complicated my plans, but I figured I would stop by my friend Priscilla's house for a visit with her and her children. Alas, Priscilla was nowhere to be found. I decided to just head out to the land when I ran into another friend, Masckel. Masckel informs me that because of the VERY heavy rains we've had the last 2 days (the rainy season should be about over...but go back and read the first sentence of this blog...) the river is impassable. Crossing the river is the only way to get to the land, so I start to panic. I call Blu and he tells me to go and see what it looks like.

I drive to the river and it is moving SO fast. (It's a low-water crossing). I watched a man cross and the water touched the bottom of his calf. All I can hear at this point is my Dad in my brain saying "This is not safe. You have 3 kids with you. Do NOT cross this river!" (I promise..it was like he was in the vehicle with me!) I call Mulenga, who had crossed the river that morning on a truck, and he assures me I can make it. Sorry, Mulenga. Dad wins.

So it's now 2:45pm and Blu is still about an hour away. There's really nowhere to stop for the kids to play, so I decide to just drive towards Blu's direction. So we drive..and drive..and drive on the dirt roads filled with potholes. As SOON as we reach pavement, we see Blu coming towards us.

He tells me about lunch, and I can't help but laugh. We wanted our guests to have a traditional Zambian meal, and they sure got it! We figured they would feed them nshima with some chicken and some type of vegetable. Instead, they had nshima and kapenta. Kapenta are small fish with a STRONG smell and HUGE eyeballs. They were troopers and tried some (or maybe one..) :) Poor guys!

Anyway, I tell Blu that I think they're all going to have to come back home, because even his truck can't make it across that. He decides we should all drive BACK to the low-water crossing to check it out. Sigh.

We get there and this time there are Zambians all around. Blu hops out of the truck, puts on his four-wheel drive, looks back at me, crosses his fingers, and proceeds to drive easily across the crossing. He then gets out and motions for me to cross. He said I could make it fine, but I totally panicked. The Zambians are all around me yelling at me to go. I roll down my window and tell them I am scared, and they proceed to tell me, "Just go straight. Keep the wheels straight." First of all, DUH. Secondly, have you ever driven a car?? Didn't think so.

I take a deep breath and slowly cross the river (keeping my wheels VERY straight..) Ok, so it wasn't all that dramatic, but I made it!

By now it is 4pm, the time I had planned on returning home to get the kids fed and bathed. I hang around and help set up tents until 4:30pm when we notice a big storm coming in. Blu begs me to stay and camp with them but I tell him NO WAY!! Get the kids in the car--we're out of here before it pours again and I can't get back across!!

I made it back home safe and sound and looking forward to not getting in the car again for a few days. Have fun camping guys!

The walls are going up on the workers' house!

Unloading

Putting up the tent

Due to the rains, they put the tents under a shelter.

Poor Caedmon wanted to stay and camp out so bad! Maybe next time.