After a few days in Dar Es Salaam and Bagamoyo we were given the green light that the roads were better so we bought our tickets for the 10+ hour ride to Lindi and at 5:30 am the next morning we were at the bus station ready for the journey... I wish I could begin to describe the hassle to get on the bus...in brief... it was dark and muddy and we were struggling with all our bags in hand to find our bus (that was already leaving) among dozens of other busses in this muddy bus yard... Mac, my Tanzanian volunteer, who we were meeting there, was already on the bus wondering where we were... When we spotted the bus, we chased it around pushing through crowds of people, struggling to be allowed on board this over crowded bus... eventually pushing our way on board. Unknowingly our porter still outside the bus with one of our bags... Till Salim realized we were missing a bag.... Luckily he was able to squeeze his way to a window... Call to the porter... and give him 2000 tsh and get the bag, all while the bus was moving. Then for an hour we stood in the isle, legs squished between bags piled up in the isle.. Not able to stand straight, leaning on seat backs and other passengers sitting in the seats we paid for. I was so confused as to why we were not able to take our own seats but was too far from Salim to ask him what was going on. Finally an hour later around 30 people got out of the bus at a bus stand and our seats were freed up. Apparently they double book seats for this 1-hour section of road to gain some extra income. After a few hours of our journey...as expected... The road became bumpy and we were thrown from our seats a few times by the huge potholes on the 65 k section of road that took 4.5 hours to pass through. At last we arrived in Lindi, picked up the Noah that had been waiting patiently for us, grabbed a few supplies for the bush, and set out for our last 1 1\2 hour rough road with the Noah into the bush. The most amazing moment of my 2 months here in Tanzania occurred as we approached the village... Salim, the DJ, was playing 'We are the World' on the iPod when outside the first mud hut we passed were two children sitting at a table doing their homework with the dlight solar lantern we (African Empowerment Project) had given them a few weeks earlier, illuminating their work... My eyes filled with tears... My heart filled with a sense of extreme joy and I knew at that moment my work was a success! I could never have received a greater reward than this, for the work I am doing!
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