drivebyfaith...notbysight

talk about jumping in and getting my feet dirty. this adventure is one worth writing home about. most of the new guys spent their second day in sudan getting over jet-lag or touring the town. but not me. about 6:30 thursday evening we get a call at our base about an emergency, i can't mention, so matt, my boss, grabs me and says, "we're going to [a location i cant mention on the internet]." this is a town about 2hrs northeast, and we have a sub-base there. so i grabbed enough supplies for a couple days and jumped in the Land Rover. our first heart pumping moment came about five miles outside of town. matt was trying to talk to the Lainya base on his satellite phone but it kept cutting in and out so we pulled over so he could get out and get better signal. by this time it was dark, so we couldn't see the two soldiers approaching our truck until they got right on us. matt stayed on the phone but got into the truck and shut the door, acting like he didn't hear the soldiers, who were saying something to us. normally soldiers are fine, but at night in sudan, why chance it. they couldv'e been drunk or something, and there was nothing stopping them from taking our phone or robbing us. we don't exactly have the safety net of a stable and fair judicial system out here. one of them started tapping on my window, so i nonchalantly locked my door and then matt quickly sped off, leaving them in the night. well, things were fine after that, bumpy, but fine. until about an hour into the trip when our headlights died on us. we stopped in the middle of the road, in complete darkness, in sudan...not exactly encouraged by the UN safety regulations. we both got out of the truck, neither of us knowing anything about cars, but hoping a jiggle to some wires would do the trick. as i stood out there in the dark i realized that i was exposed to every danger sudan has to offer and no way to escape it. i thought about the "lost boys." a group of thousands oflittle boys ages 5-12 who fled the war in 1987, walking thousands of miles on their own to ethiopia and kenya. these little boys had to fend off lions, hyenas, and alligators, not to mention the enemy soldiers. as i stood on the road that winds through the head-high grass, i thought about a lion or hyena jumping out at me. how did these little boys do it. i also thought about late night travelers who might see two stranded white men as an easy target. there was no way we could flee. we couldn't see a thing and the roads are way too treacherous to try and drive blindly. for some reason (God) matt had grabbed a mini-MagLight on his way out. we laughed at the thought of us driving through southern sudan at night with a AA flashlight as our guide. but... the two foot wide beam of light is all we had to see the people, ditches, potholes, and the road. i had to hang out the window and move the light back and forth so we could see the grass on both sides. needless to say, we SLAMMED into some major holes, which sent my head into to the windshield or the roof several times. just outside of Lainya there is a checkpoint. matt was sure we were going to jail for not having proper headlights, but again God gave us what we needed, and the soldiers didn't even question us, though they probably laughed at the stupid kowajas(white men). what should've been an hour and 45 min to two hours turned out to be over 3 hrs. we crawled into the base and had a great night's sleep. the next morning's drive back was obviously a little easier. we could at least see the huge potholes before we hit them. we did manage to get ourselves stuck in the mud, but a good push from about 15 sudanese men did the trick and was well worth the 20 pounds (ten dollars) we paid them. so yesterday we rolled into the compound, muddy and tired, but with a great story to tell. if MagLight needs a new commercial tell them to give me a call.