Crazy! (*whisper* crazy....)

I want to begin this little entry by writing that you can’t imagine what I’ve just been through- however, I know that’s not true… but it WAS one of the most trying times (or possible THE MOST trying time) I’ve had in DRC (between this past week and last summer).

A view of the city on the way to the airport...

 

My flight was scheduled to leave Kinshasa at 10PM. I told my translator that I wanted to leave at 5 from our guest house, knowing that it would probably be later than that. We left around 5.30 or 5.45 because the driver hit traffic on his was to pick us up (and because that’s just the way things are in DRC). But… all was well. We took a back road to get to the airport because they are completely redoing the main road to there. (The Congolese recently signed a 20 year contract with the Chinese to get roads built! Not sure if it’s just for Kinshasa or for all of DRC…) We stopped to pick up my “handler” to get me through the airport but he wasn’t there… okay, no worries- he would be meeting us further up the road. We get back on the road and that’s when the $@*# hit the fan!!! We hit traffic… Now wait- I know you’re thinking, “Rachel, you know traffic is crazy there, you were even stuck in gridlock earlier that day and laughed to yourself about it, why complain now?” Well here’s the thing… I’ve NEVER experienced gridlock like this before. Here are me and at least half a million of my closest friends trying to all go down the same road during evening rush hour. This wasn’t just your average, everyday DRC rush hour, this was a hot, freakin’ mess! Here’s what my translator told me: Turns out the man who is the head of an opposing political party to the current president, and has been in Belgium for a good five years, who many folks thought was dead or in jail, and who said he will run in the upcoming election next year- decided to arrive in Kinshasa late afternoon the same day I need to fly out. Pardon me for repeating, but $@*#!!!! The traffic was at a dead crawl, and that’s when it was moving at ALL! Bikes were weaving in and out of the traffic, people were hanging out of vehicles, sitting on top of them and even standing on top of them, broken down cars were being pushed down the road, people were singing and chanting and waving flags, yelling and all kinds of craziness! (Some of the above is typical on a DRC road- others were a little extraordinary because of the circumstances.)  BUT WAIT- THERE’S MORE!! :) Because we were going so slow (aka, a foot every 10 minutes or so) the driver kept popping the hood to add water to the radiator… so finally…. wait for it…. wait for it… yup, we overheated!! Dude- it gets BETTER!! Because most vehicles are not maintained here (there is no word for ‘maintenance’ in Swahili is what I’ve been told... and yes, I know they speak Lingala in Kinshasa, I’m just making a point) there was no air conditioning. Usually keeping the windows cracked while flying down the road provides sufficient air circulation. However, after be stopped for a bit I saw what I thought was a weird shadow right beside me at the window and realized it was a dude! (Yes, the back doors were locked… I’m not that ditzy…) After that only a few other people tried to reach for the window or the handles to the car- people also love to hit vehicles as they’re walking or driving by. So I’m melting (had to have shed 10lbs just sitting there) through all of this. One the up-side, we only got rear-ended once! (You just hit someone and drive on here, between the driver, my translator and myself, I’m the only one who even looked back at the taxi bus that hit us…) I’m a fairly patient person and can deal with the traffic but we were still miles upon miles from the airport and my plan of arriving by 8 was about to fail. I called Mom and asked for prayers and called the crew I left at the guest house to ask for prayers… By this point I was almost in tears (had one forming in my left eye). But I remembered to breath and I kept myself busy with a game of Sudoku on my DRC cell. The driver found water for the radiator and we hit the road again… then- PRAISE BE TO GOD- we cleared the traffic!!! We finally met up with my “handler” and made it to the airport and here I sit typing this while I try to get my nerves back in place :) I am so happy to be here and waiting on my flight that I could almost cry… almost :)

OKAY! WHEN DO I GET TO COME BACK?!?! :-D

 

**A note to add after just arriving in Brussels… The plane coming into Kinshasa that we’d be taking out was late so it was a good two hours after our flight was to leave that we even got on the plane… Crazy! (crazy…) ;-) 

On the plus side I have some new song ideas to share (yes, I've obviously had a bit of free time in the last 24 hours of travel):

"Bottoms Up" is now being renamed "Bottom Out" because that's what our car did all the time...

The phrase "Now walk it out" in some hip hop song is being changed to "Now walk the dog" because one of our kids was given a toy dog by his new parents and they kept telling him to walk the dog...

The line dance song with the lyrics "Slide to the left, Slide to the right" are now being changed to "Bank to the left, bank to the right" :-D

Merry Christmas from DRC!!!