Thursday, October 7, 2010

quick story

Its been a few days and Ive just been getting used to things/wallowing in my homesickness. just kidding! (kind of)
Just a quick story about a car ride. There had been this girl here named Lucy who like did housework kind of stuff for the sisters and had gone to school here. so so nice. Once she was cooking and told me to turn off the stove but I didnt know how and when she came back the onions were burned but she was so nice about it. Anyway she had to go back to her village so they asked if I wanted to go. I love a good sunday car ride so of course I said oui.
We left at 4... ie we left at 4:45. A guy who is a friend of the sisters and works for the UN drove us in a UN land cruiser which I thought seemed a little over the top. Turned out to be very necessary. We drove for a while on a paved road and then started on a dirt road. We drove past villages like that you would see on TV with the barefoot kids with the big bellies. It was like watching one of those commercials minus the dramatic music and celebrity narrator.
So anyway that was interesting to see. The driver has worked for the UN for a long time so even though we had to zig zag across the road to avoid holes he felt comfortable going at what felt like 70mph. Im sure it was much slower but we were going fast enough to get that feeling in your stomach like when youre on a rollercoaster so obviously i was carsick.
We kept going and going on this road that kept getting narrower and with bigger holes. The holes were huge and filled with so much water that several times we went into the hole and the water/mud came all the way up and covered the windshield and we couldnt see. I guess it was funny because sr yvette and the driver were laughing.
This went on for like an hour until finally we got to a hole that was too deep and the car kind of got stuck and the wheels were spinning and stuff. At that point Lucy got out and there were some guys on the 'road' who said they would help her get to her village. She said that if we hadnt driven her she would have walked from the sisters house to her village which took us almost 2 hours by car.
It was getting dark and it started to rain so we turned the car around...which took awhile since the road was so narrow and filled with water. Finally we started heading back and I learned Lucys story.
Shes from Burkina Faso but a few years ago her mom was accused of sorcery (hogwarts trained? i wondered) and so lucy had to come live in this village with her uncle and can see her mom with her uncles permission. Sr yvette didnt know where her dad was. Lucy wants to become a nun and i hope that works out because she was so nice.
It was a rough ride but I was glad I went and got to see some villages.
Ill try to write more soon..thanks for reading this and thanks for the emails they are very much appreciated!

No comments:

Post a Comment