The town of Nimodo lies 20 miles south of our town. How long does it take you to travel 20 miles? 20 minutes? 30 minutes? An hour if there’s traffic? An hour and a half if there’s really bad traffic? Does it ever take you two hours to go that far? It does on Clove Island.
 |
| A view of Nimodo |
The road between here and Nimodo was not in great shape. Then the rains came. The damaged road was no match for heavy rains that tore up the potholes and ripped open the cracks, washed away the asphalt and left a ghastly mess. There is hardly a patch of road left that isn’t gashed, pitted or rutted, the rest are just piles of broken gravel and asphalt. The result is an extremely slow and bumpy ride — 2 hours to go 20 miles.
I was doing this twice a week this past month for the sake of a teacher training program in Nimodo. Every Wednesday and Sunday I would leave the house at 12:30, catch a taxi and arrive in Nimodo around 2:30. (Thank God for interesting podcasts to listen to.) Then I would teach from 3-5:30pm and then have the long ride back to look forward to.
But there’s a problem there. With the road being the way it is, the taxi buses aren’t running as often as they did. Finding a bus after 5pm is hit or miss. I wasn’t interested in staying in Nimodo overnight, so I asked the organizers for a better solution. I told them, “If you want me to come do this training, you’ll need to figure out a guaranteed way to get me back to my town.” The solution they proposed was a motorcycle. Someone would give me a ride on the back of a motorcycle when the class was finished.
This has been a pretty good solution before. A motorcycle is cheap (requires less gas) and faster as it can avoid a lot of the potholes (although these days the roads are so bad, it isn’t much of a faster—shaves off 10 minutes tops). I’ve ridden on the back of a motorcycle so many times at this point, that I’ve bought my own helmet, despite the fact that I don’t own or know how to drive a motorcycle.
 |
| The teacher training group |
There is something wonderful about riding on the back of a motorcycle. You get to experience the island’s beauty with 365ยบ freedom of view. Being on the back, you don’t have to be overly concerned about the road in front of you (although you do have to keep an eye out for the pothole bumps). At the end of the trip, I arrive bottom-sore and windswept, but mostly, I really enjoy the ride. Until the last Sunday…
That Sunday, the teacher giving me a ride couldn’t get the motorcycle he usually uses. I waited around 30 minutes while he called around looking for something. Finally a guy pulls up with a motorcycle, we hop on and head out. It’s now about 6pm and the sun is setting and it quickly becomes apparent that this motorcycle has no headlights.
“Don’t worry,” the teacher yells to me from the front of the bike. “We’re getting a better motorcycle in the next town. It’s my half-brother’s. Brand new. Very Nice. Not like this one.”
That’s all well and good, but we still have to make it to the next town. As darkness descended, I was praying that his eyesight was better than mine, because I couldn’t see a thing. In fact, I was praying generally that we would be okay. Sometimes a motorcycle or a car would pass us. For a moment, their headlights would light our way, but soon we would be on our own again. The sky continued to darken and my prayers became more fervent.
Just then a taxi pulled up behind us, lighting our way beautifully. Only, he didn’t choose to pass us. Instead he followed us, as if he wanted to help us out. In fact, I wonder if he did it on purpose. Islanders understand about broken down vehicles, perhaps he was just doing us a kindly service. Or perhaps he just wanted to go slow. Either way, it was an answer to prayer. He followed us all the way into town. After another long wait, the good motorcycle was ready and the rest of the trip was uneventful.
I’m happy to say the training in Nimodo is finished! No more motorcycle trips—at least for a little while.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are thankful for light to guide our paths! We are thankful for our time on the big island and French island this past week and for smooth travel to the French Island and back home to Clove Island. We’re thankful for the good work being done on the French Island and for the faithful witness of our friends there— it is a difficult and complicated place but we see God’s hand at work. We are thankful that the group on Clove Island were able to gather together as a larger group this past weekend and celebrate the group’s birthday! We are thankful that we were able to bring more copies of the printed book in the local language with us from the French Island.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
Pray for the women’s gathering this week and for discussions on what to study next with them. The men should meet the following week, but already it is seeming difficult to find a day when the main players are available. Pray for our colleagues on the big island as they continue to process their son’s medical needs and what it means for them. We are still waiting to hear if our youngest has a spot at boarding school for next year. Pray for an answer soon. Our kids in mainland Africa will begin AP exams this week— pray for good concentration, low stress and good health at this time.
