Dr. Tim Rice writes, "Since we had
some recovery/preparation time between medical missions teams, we thought that we should
make the day long drive from Vanga to Kinshasa instead of the 1.5 hour Mission
Aviation Fellowship flight.
"Katherine
Niles, a veteran International Ministries missionary and former resident in
Vanga, discussed two options. The first was the usual way the Congolese make
the trip: the first day take a transport SUV 75 km
south to the nearest city, Kikwit.
Next, look for an express van or bus going to Kinshasa. They would leave the following day for
Kinshasa, making this option a two or more day trip.
"The second option, which is the one we took, was to “let it be known”
that we were getting a group together to go directly from Vanga to Kinshasa and
ask Mr. DeGaulle (same name as the Paris Airport) if he would make the
trip. Mr. DeGaulle is a successful
proprietor of Vanga who frequently makes the trip between these two cities with
a Land Cruiser full(!) of people and goods. We were told that sometimes the goods piled high on top of
the SUV include a goat, to be sold at market, strapped to the top.  | |||||
| Carrying footlockers to meet the SUV |
"We met the cool-headed Congolese driver, Mr DeGaulle, wearing a wide-brimmed soft hat as he was supervising the workers loading the top of his Toyota Land Cruiser.
 |
| The rig was piled high with items bound for Kinshasa. Our suitcases were on extention boards behind the main tarp covered luggage. |
"At a couple
of police checkpoints, our driver calmly and carefully explained that this was
a missions group (not mentioned: the passengers were all paying customers) and were carrying
items for the mission team (not mentioned: the sacks of
Cassava and other items being shipped to Kinshasa, commercial items). The police at the checkpoints were
checking to be sure the driver had paid the $50 commercial toll to use the road
from Kikwit to Kinshasa. Once they
looked over the drivers receipts, they were satisfied and let us go. I saw a little “small change” pass
between the driver and the officer so he could “buy himself a bottle of water
on such a hot day.”
"The 75 km
portion of the trip from Vanga to the main road was like 4-wheel driving
(literally) on sand dunes. Erosion
is a terrible problem during the rainy season, leaving deeply etched gullies in
the terrain. The road at times
traveled through steep vertical cliffs of sand left by the rains. As the road begin a sharp descent, we
knew we were approaching another river, only to creep slowly up the other
side. The villages seemed to vary
only in number of huts, with common features of roadside stands, a church, and
sometimes a school of brick construction.
"Once we came
to the paved road, the going was smoother and faster until we came to a
village where was a very steep, stop-inducing speed bump on arrival and
departure. Since villages are
frequent, the going was significantly prolonged by all the speed bumps.
"Here the general topography came into
view…rolling significant grassy hills (think Smokey Mountains or maybe the
rolling hills of Eastern Montana).
One after another after another after another…..You get a much closer
view and longer view by road then the 1.5 hour MAF direct flight from Vanga to
Kinshasa.
General observations:
"There are no
wild animals in the grasslands of Congo. They have all been eaten. The only roadkill to be found are
broken down lorries (overloaded trucks)--probably 100 noted. There are no beasts of burden on the road,
just people, especially women, carrying astounding loads on their heads.
"14 hours +
14 people in a Toyota Land Cruiser, with huge load on top is not comfortable. We started out with Kathy sitting in
the back on a bench seat with minimal cushion squeezed between the 4 other passengers
on her side, the less crowded side.
On the opposite bench were 5 adults and one child, and two very healthy
Congolese took up half the length of the bench while the other 4 were squeezed in
the remaining space. The poor
driver’s helper was smashed against the back door in a small sliver of
space. The driver’s assistant came
in very handy with changing the tire.
"As for leg
room, there was NONE. The woman
sitting across from Kathy, a nurse at the hospital, had her overstuffed bag on
the floor between her feet taking up every inch of space across from Kathy’s
seat. The only place for Kathy’s
feet was directly under the woman’s or twisted around with no room to move
around. (Significance later.)
I sat in the
front seat next to a 24 year old Congolese women traveling to Kinshasa with her
grandmother sitting in the back.
She talked on the phone when we had cell phone service or texted her
friends.
"Music: Once
we got started the driver plugged in his SD card into the car stereo system and
started playing Congolese music. This was enjoyable for the first 2 hours but
got older and louder as the miles passed.
The driver and the passenger sitting in front with me got a good laugh
when I finally pulled out my ear plugs and quietly put them in my ears for a
little more comfort. The lady sitting in the front frequently sang softly along
with what were probably her favorite songs. Toward the end of the day I guess they were tired of the
Congolese music and stared to playing American music, i.e. Taylor Swift. At this time the driver’s helper in the
back just plugged his ears with his fingers.
"Contradictions We Noticed: Much of the way along the paved route
we noted workers digging a 3 foot deep trench. This was to lay Fiber-optic internet cable from
Kinshasa. The contradiction is
that all the yards they were digging up were mud and stick homes with thatched
roof, no electricity or computers.
"Food: As we traveled through the first part
of our trip, the people on the bus were offered snack items to buy from side of
the road vendors. Things like unshelled
peanuts freshly pulled out of the ground, still attached to 6 inches of the
stock. Although there were a few
other items bought, but most people nibbled on these freshly harvested
peanuts. Around noon we stopped in
a village, and the team was ushered into a covered outdoor restaurant that was
owned by someone that used to live in Vanga. Not knowing the usual protocol for these types of trips, we
had brought our sack lunch of bread, salami and cheese. We shared our American food with one of
the passengers, and then they ordered a regular Congo meal with Luku
(Fufu). We also bought very
refreshing cold sodas to drink.
"The Tire
Blow Out: Around 8 hours into our
trip, as we headed around a corner down a hill, the right rear tire suddenly
had a blow out and collapsed under all the abuse. This immediately put the already top heavy car into a
dangerous swerving, tipping motion.
Thankfully, our expert driver quickly regained control and we pulled to
a stop. This only delayed
our travel by 30 minutes and gave time for people to “look at the flowers” as bathroom
stops are called in Congo.
"The last
part of the trip Kathy sat in front since the small abrasion on the top of her
right foot had over the day become a seriously painful infection. Sitting in front, she got some
relief and I joined the crowd in the back. By the end of the day my derriere was bruised with only a
little relief from the blow-up travel pillow Kathy wisely carried with
her. That evening Kathy
started on antibiotics and over the next couple of days her foot is slowly
improving and my derriere is getting better as well.
"What this
trip helped me realize is how vast and beautiful the country of Congo is.
"I will not, however, need to make this
trip again soon to remind me of this vastness and beauty that we can see from
the air.
"This trip also helped me
realize how valuable Mission Aviation Fellowship is to ministry here in
Congo.
"I believe having the
training of medical personnel in a more rural setting helps them understand the
constraints, as well as the possibilities, of providing care in low resource
settings. Yet bringing teams of
American physicians to Vanga to train Congolese would be much more limited if
the team had to make this arduous day-long trip at the beginning and end of
each visit."
