The Car Ride That Never Ends!!!
So…last week was crazy. A team from Liquidnet (ASYV’s corporate partner) was here to work on the IT infrastructure, among other things. So I was working like crazy with the guys learning new things, setting up the network etc. I didn’t get back till 2:00 am most nights and had to wake up to teach the next day too.
Anyway, one of the days we went to Kigali for a few meetings and training (since the power was out at the village). Putting the meeting aside (that is a whole other story), we finally were ready to leave Kigali. It was around 6 when we were ready to leave Kigali. We got in the car and started driving. The car was packed 8 people in a land cruiser.
We started driving and I immediately noticed we were going a different way. Then I realized we weren’t heading home we were making a stop. Communication is a big problem in Rwanda. Usually back home if you were driving someone and you had to make a stop somewhere you would tell them. Just as a courtesy. Not here…
So we stopped. Our driver started making some phone calls. We waited there for about 10 minutes, didn’t do anything and then started driving again. Then we drove for another few minutes and made another stop. Again nothing happened besides the driver making some phone calls. Waited another few minutes and then continued driving. Then we made another stop. This time there was someone at the side of the road waiting for us. We saw our driver hand her something and then they told us it was his wife. So we said hi and everything and then we started to drive again. We thought maybe now our “errands” were done. Nope.
We headed towards the direction we needed to go so I was hopeful. But when we were supposed to turn right we didn’t. So, yup, another stop. We got to the house of one of the passengers’s cousins. She had to make a stop there. So she got out went into the house, a few minutes goes by and then she finally comes out. Again, since we were so close to the turn I thought for sure we were heading back. Wrong.
The woman who got out of the car told us that we needed to pickup the village nurse because she earlier went to the hospital with one of the kids but she couldn’t stay the night there. So we started driving again (after some more time waiting). Almost hit a person crossing the road, o btw the power was out in Kigali so we didn’t see them.
Go to a gas station. Wait a few minutes. Call the nurse. She’s not there. So we start driving again. Apparently it was a different gas station. So we finally find the nurse. And along the way I said to the woman in the car, “where is she going to fit?” If you remember the car was already jammed pack with 8 people and we are not small guys. The nurse would make it 9.
She finally got in and basically sat on the lap of the other woman. So I asked to be sure, “now we are heading back to ASYV?” and they said yes. Finally some good news. Too bad it wouldn’t last long.
It takes about an hour to get to ASYV from Kigali and by this time it was maybe 7ish, so we thought we should be back around 8 something. Nope wrong again.
About halfway into our trip one of the guys sitting next to me said he smelt exhaust real bad. I noticed it but didn’t think much of it as a lot of cars here spew out lung clogging black smog. I just assumed it was a car in front of us. Not much you can do unless you can pass them. However, there wasn’t anyone in front of us now and we still smelt it.
It got progressively worse very quickly. To the point where our eyes were burning. We shined a flashlight out the back window and saw a big cloud of smoke. It ended up getting so bad to the point where you could barely see the light from the taillights.
We continued to drive, the gauges were reading fine but, that doesn’t mean much as most cars here, the gauges are broken. All of a sudden the car started sputtering. We asked the driver what was wrong and his response in kinyarwanda was “The car is tired.” That answer just added to the hilarity of the situation.
So the whole rest of the way all of us are praying we don’t just break down. Once we got to the dirt road in the town near ASYV, we were able to put the car in neutral and coast down the hills. Which definitely helped. Things were looking good. We were able to see the lights of the village around the side of the hill, but it was still a ways away.
When all of a sudden the car started skidding and the ride got real bumpy. ”Yup, we got a flat.” I tell everyone. The driver kept driving at first. Till we told him he had to stop. So we get out, and yup as flat as a flat can get. Good thing I saw them change a flat on this truck before. We were able to change it relatively quickly. Standing around in the pitch black with our phones, head lamps and flash lights. It was quite the sight.
Some locals walked by, I don’t know how they can see in the dark cuz I definitely can’t. One of them walked by and I greeted her in kinyarwanda. The conversation went like this (translated into English):
Me: Good evening.
Woman: Yes. How are you?
Me: I’m fine.
Woman: How can you say you’re fine when you have a problem?
Me: O no problem. No problem. Have a good night.
Woman: You too.
It was very funny how she said how can you be fine, you have a problem. It added a little comedy to the crappy situation.
Once the tire was changed we commenced our drive. We got back to the village in a few minutes. It was now a little after 9. And while all we wanted to do was crash, the night was just starting. We were up at the school working on the network till 2:00am. Good times.
So that is the story of the car ride that never ends.
