Okay so I have to say that I've enjoyed this trip down memory lane. While I was thinking about my summer in Mozambique I couldn't help but remember the crazy journey from Mozambique back to the USA. So let me head down a little rabbit trail today and take you along on the memory train. Okay, so maybe it's actually a big rabbit trail, but I think the story is too entertaining to miss out on sharing. Now it's been almost 15 years so hopefully my memory serves me right. Fellow Mozambique team members please feel free to add your memories or correct mine if you deem necessary!
I remember that leaving Mozambique was very emotional for me. God had done so much in my heart during that summer that I didn't want to leave the place behind.
After leaving Mozambique but before going back to the USA we spent some time in Zimbabwe debriefing and preparing for re-entry to US culture. On our way to our debriefing site we took an overnight train. (Just picture early American trains traveling across an African countryside that looks like it is out of the Lion King.)
As we were waiting for the train to depart I decided to step away from the group to get a bit of personal space. Now I could still see the group so I really wasn't that far away. But I definitely wasn't right next to anyone from the team. Well a man came up and grabbed my arm and started pulling me with him. I said no and pulled my arm back. He grabbed me once more and this time I pulled my whole body away and shouted NO! By then a few of my team members/leaders had noticed what was going on and headed my way. The man immediately left. This is the first time I have publicly told that part of the story. If my parents had known back then I doubt they would have EVER let me go back to Africa!
After our time of debriefing we again traveled by train to the Harare Airport in Zimbabwe. We were flying on Balkan Airlines. (I was going to allow them to remain anonymous by calling them an Unnamed Eastern European airline. But I just learned they went out of business eight years ago so I will go ahead and name them!)
On our journey to Mozambique this lovely airline somehow managed to load only five or six (my memory is a bit fuzzy on exact number but I know it wasn't more than six) of our approximately 60 bags on the plane. It took more than a week for our luggage to catch up to us.
Well on our way home our lovely Balkan plane was sitting on the runway when we arrived at the airport in Zimbabwe. Shortly after we arrived our flight status went up as being "Delayed one hour". After a while it changed to "Two Hours". Soon it was "Four Hours". Before we knew it our flight was being "Delayed Indefinitely". We wound up spending 24hrs at the airport while they repaired the plane.
The next day we made the flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. We stopped in Lagos, Nigeria and Malta to refuel on our way to Bulgaria. Well somewhere along the ride it occurred to a number of the passengers that Bulgaria only has a few flights to the USA every week. And with our 24hr delay we had missed our connection.
A small group who were also bound for America decided that we should all stay on the plane and refuse to get off until they flew us directly to America. Hello people! Did you not notice that we had to stop TWICE for fuel on the way here? Our team declined the offer to join them in the protest and proceeded to the terminal. Well those that refused to get off the plane caused a bit of a ruckus and the next thing I knew the plane was surrounded with men with machine guns. Our team joked for a long time about the almost hijacking on the runway!
Of course we had missed our connecting flight. But because it was the airline's fault they were forced to put us up in a hotel for the night and then fly us on to London the next morning. Once we arrived in London we were put on Virgin Atlantic (one of the world's BEST airlines) where one of my leaders and I got a standby seat. At the last minute my leader and I were running to the plane to join the rest of our team.
The flight to NY was rather uneventful and before knew it I was home in Alta Loma, CA.
If you made it this far into the post congratulations! In all fairness I did warn you that it would be a rather large rabbit trail! I'll try to wrap up this Journey to Kenya series tomorrow.
1 comment:
I loved reading this post! You are a brave girl to say the least. When Scott and I were on the way back from Paris we got stuck in Denmark for 18 hours. We were not prepared for that kind of layover... I was wearing slippers even! It was annoying at the time, but we love reminiscing about it now. Thanks for sharing!
Post a Comment