on the liemba

this is where we slept (on the roof of the back of the boat). the only down side was that people started drying piles of fish on the corrugated metal around us...

the liemba: ferry attempt number 2

we knew we had left the sweet babying of our family and friends in burundi when our bus broke down 1.5 hours of leaving them. 4 vehicles and 8 hours later we finally arrived in kigoma where we were to board the ‘m.v. liemba’, a 90+ year old german ferry.

the ‘liemba’ is a persistent old vessel. the germans sank her when they were forced to leave after world war I, but the tanzanians resurrected her. now she putters along lake tanganyika towards zambia like she owns the joint! she stops about a kilometer from the shore at various towns along the way and blows a big horn to sound the locals. the locals come out in droves aboard small boats to load and unload cargo and passengers. this happens every few hours, night or day, and is amazing to watch (it always involves a lot of panic and yelling…). we boarded the liemba on wednesday and left her on friday.

due to a negative ferry experience (or lack of experience) in the sudan, we tried to book 1st class tickets in advance, but a mission group had already bought them all up (dirty missionaries... kidding)…so, we had to go with 2nd class (which were suspiciously similar in price to 3rd class…). as it turned out, our cabin was LOADED with cockroaches – even after a can of bug spray and about 100 dead cockroaches they were still pouring out of the holes in the wall. we opted to sleep out on the deck for 2 nights which ended up being a blessing in disguise. we found a great breezy spot, which was a double bonus since it seemed to be too cold for the africans and we got some solitude. all in all, an unforgettable 2 days!

highlights from burundi: on the road with jesus and harry potter

our time in bujumbura, burundi was fabulous. we lived with doug and deanna (madeline and elise) hiebert (lars' sisters family), and/or brandon thiessen for our entire stay. first off, thanks to doug and deanna and brando for taking us around buj-town, opening your homes to us and showing us so much hospitality. here are some highlights from our stay:

* musee vivant de bujumbura (see previous post)

* bushwacking in the mountains outside of buj (doug was a hero and took most of the scrapes)

* our mini-trip into the d. r. congo (nothing can go wrongo in the congo? yeah right rafi...i guess you've never been there)

* getting the "ins and outs" of mcc burundi/rwanda/east congo

* lars being told he looks like harry potter (yes, the hype is in central africa too)

* me being told - on a regular basis - that i look like jesus (let's keep that stereotype going shall we?)

* playing with maddy (she's the cutest kid ever...a future heartbreaker for sure!)

* watching lars hold elise ("like a football lars")

* catching and killing gustav the legendary 75m crocodile with our bare hands (do a google search on gustav and see what comes up)

* body surfing lake tanganyika with brando

* rhubarb crumble at d & d's

* our big game of ultimate frisbee

* lars' mango worm (see previous post)

*having my own wing at chez hiebert

*brandon's coffee

note: missing in photo - elise (likely "sleeping")

the living museum

what do you get when you cross poisonous snakes, careless keepers and dilapidated cages? you get musee vivant du bujumbura! this place is crazy - one safety violation after another. my heart was pounding with nervous excitement the entire time we were there. i'm not sure why though...i love reptiles. maybe it was the black tree snake that was thrown on the ground in front of us. or was it the python that i held in my arms? it's possible that standing a metre away from an uncaged gaboon viper being provoked to strike got me going. it's also a little unnerving to have the door to the hooded cobra cage left open and unattended for any amount of time. musee vivant is completely ridiculous and utterly unnecessary....but i wouldn't have it any other way.

of chimps and mango worms

travel in east africa and you’ll soon find out that gorilla tracking is the thing to do. while gorillas appealed to us, the price did not (350 bucks plus). instead we decided to head to kibale forest (southwest uganda) to track chimpanzees. i would love to say that after finding the chimps they let us join their community and we spent days living in the trees learning deep chimp secrets…but instead I have to say we spent 5 hours walking around in the rain not seeing one peep of any chimp (in other words, we were very disappointed).

BUT…i did pick up a little friend in the forest: a mango worm. he had dug his way into my hip and had been living there quite happily for a week before matt finally noticed him (his home was a large, red and PAINFUL swelling under my skin…). my new friend didn’t want to leave so, after much deliberation with matt and my family, i plugged his hole with some vaseline in order to suffocate him out (cruel…I know). The next day he poked his head out to get some air, but i was ready...i squeezed him out the rest of the way, where he died a painful death. it was all a very gross experience.

note: if anyone is still curious about the mango worm... his big, red, tumour of a home on my hip never left...so a few days ago i squeezed out another half of him (or his brother?)
the red bump is still there...but hopefully that was the last of him! (although i doubt it...)

hotel rwanda

we were traveling from the uganda/rwanda border to kigali (the capital of rwanda) via mini bus when i asked the girl beside me for advice about the hotel we were planning to stay at. the girl said she didn’t know about the hotel, but would be able to put us up with her family! we had an amazing night talking, cooking, and laughing with hariette (the girl) and her family of 12. they gave up a bedroom for us and showed us amazing hospitality. we felt especially privileged as harriette shared some of her story with us.
thank you harriette!

fun clash of cultures

today i rode in a minibus jammed full of 20 young muslim scholars for about an hour. while being a "mzungu" squished with them seemed to be enough reason to make them laugh, my answers to their questions gave them enough reason to squeal (which is actually a typical surprised ugandan response...)
"did you leave your wife/wives at home?" i don't have a wife. "ahh!" (followed by much laughter). "how many kids do you have?" None. "ahh! you're mad!" (much laughter). "you believe jesus is god?" yes. "ahh!" (laughter).
they were disappointed i didn't convert at the end of the trip, but we all had a good time. a baptist minister boarded the vehicle as they left and assured me i believe in the correct god and have lots of time to find a wife.

ps. matt and i have parted ways for a few days as he checks out his old YWAM haunts and i check out white water rafting. it was a tearful goodbye, but we'll see each other soon.

canada day

happy 140th canada!
have a safe and happy long weekend everyone.