This photo is taken from the bridge that divides Zambia and the DRC. Beautiful isn't it!
Well we left home at 6am to go through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to spend the night at the GLO centre in Ndola. Ohhhh man the road called the Pedicle was incredible! It was a dirt road but oh boy it was pitted and there were lots of potholes!!!!! Potholes, potholes and more potholes!!! It was amazing. Sometimes Donald didn’t realise how big they were and went straight over the top of them. I am really glad none of us had back problems! The seatbelts in the back don’t work and once Katie’s head hit the roof of the car! The place was soooo dusty that even the trees were covered. They looked like they were dead but they weren’t just covered in red dirt! Katie thought it was great and said it reminded her of when Josh took her and some of her friends on the back of his truck down by the river – I assure you that would have been mild compared to this road! The Pedicle is in the DRC. We saw these huge mounds of dirt which we were told ware anthills!
Well let me back up a bit.... A week ago Donald and I got our National Registration Cards. Today was a test to see if they would work so that we could then post our Emergency Travel Documents to London so that we could get our real passports sent to us. Leaving Zambia was no problem at all. Going into the Congo .... well that was a bit more interesting! All our details were written into 4 different books. That means we had to see four different people. Each person wanted 5 pin (about $1US Dollar) and also wanted money for a coke!
As in anywhere in Africa, as you drive around there are people trying to sell their goods. There was this one little boy in particular, he had been out to catch is product. On a stick displayed for all to have a good look at, were at least 7 RATS! Yes that is what he was selling. For those of you who know me... well you know what my reaction was. Yes I screamed and we were still in the car driving! Agnes and Francis just laughed and laughed and said now that was funny and that I had made their day! I commented that rats spread diseases and Francis informed me that it was only the city rats and that village ones were ok and disease free ...ummmm Ohhh well we kept going. It took a long time and then we were at the borders again. This time I didn’t like the look of one of the customs officers. Up till now they had all been fine. He wasn’t even the one dealing with us and came over and looked at us and our documents. Katie is on the work visa, and because she is a child they did not give her a National’s Card. Agnes asked if it was ok for the three girls to go outside now – they usually just deal with the driver and the rest of us walk through. They answered yes. When we went to go the dodgy guy said that Katie couldn’t because she had no documents! Donald kept telling him that she was only 12 yrs old! He studied that work visa very hard! Then Agnes told him again in Bemba that she was only 12 years old and still a child and that we were going through and told us to come. We followed obediently! It was not a problem at the Zambian end of the border. They still wrote details down but no issues at all. Whew thank goodness for that. Well now I need to go to the loo and guess what it is a pit loo, soooo ok I say to myself well I have to go. I was all ready to go in taking lots of deep breaths when a huge lizard ran across the door. That’s it I am not going in there! There were all these men outside. Actually I am not sure what they were doing there but oh well, I certainly made their day. They laughed and laughed! Agnes asked the customs officer if they had a toilet I could use. She pointed to the one I wasn’t going too. Agnes told her I was too scared of the lizard! She gave a smirk and took me to a flush toilet. The floor was even tiled! Ok business done let get back on the road!
We are now back in Zambia on our way to Ndola. Oh my goodness this road is tar sealed but ohhhh the potholes again! Donald reckons it is worse than the pedicle to drive. We arrive at GLO and we are staying in the guest house. It is a nice place to stay. We had a waterbed to sleep on! I haven’t slept on one of these since the 1980’s! Donald and Francis have printing to do. An elders booklet written by John MacArthur. Francis has translated it into Bemba. We also have to get a passport for Francis so that he can go to South Africa for studies. We have also dropped Agnes off. We will meet her again on Sunday.
We had dinner in Ndola. It was quite hard to find a restaurant here, that is clean or not a bar! We found one place and it is owned by an Arab man. It was a good lesson for Katie as all the food was ‘halaal’ so initially didn’t want to eat there. We told her as Christians we can eat it as it would not defile us as Christians. Good teaching moment! Unfortunately for Francis there is no nshima here!
Tomorrow we go to Kitwe and Kalalushi.
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