More adventures of Wasilla the truck in South Africa

Editor's note: Gene and Jean Straatmeyer have spent almost a year in South Africa working with a church there. The following is part two of a two-part excerpt from one of their online journals. It details the role of "Wasilla," the church's new truck. The Straatmeyers return to Alaska Sept. 22.

Most of the work Wasilla has been doing is doubling as a bus. The youth have had retreats at Malungunde twice and each time the truck was used in the same way. On Thursday the youth go shopping for supplies needed at camp. Four of them ride inside the cab and the rest are in the box. They buy bread, potatoes cabbages, beef, chicken, vegetables and nsima (ufa) flour. Then with the back box about full of groceries we drive out to the Malungundi camp and deliver the food.

On Friday afternoon at 1 p.m., I drive a load of kids out to the camp. I think the highest number I have carried is a total of 17 or 18. In the United States this would not be allowed, but here it is a way of life. (Recently 21 high school kids where killed when a truck carrying about 100 of them, overturned on a curve. The driver was intoxicated, it was discovered afterward. )

As we go through the villages along the way, the kids are singing and villagers crowd towards the road to wave or listen. The last time the youth were at Malungundi, a minibus that was to haul some of the kids had broken down so I made a second trip to take a load of counselors and other kids to the camp fearing that there would be no adults there for the night. The breaking down of mini-busses here is a way of life.

A good example of how Wasilla is used is when we drove to Mozambique for the funeral of Abusa Chikakuda. I was driving, and Abusa Nordstrom (from Florida), Abusa Mnthambala, and the pastor of the Lilongwi CCAP church were with me in the cab. Along the way we saw an Abusa by the side of the road and two Chigwirizano (Women's Guild) women. I stopped, took the cover off the box and they rode almost 100 kilometers in the back. Later we picked up several more Chigwirizano women. On the way back we had a lot more riding in the box. These people have no "galimotos" and therefore depend upon the handful of churches or elders who have them.

Often I will take people short distances like the Chigwirizano women to their meetings at a Prayer House and get them back after their meeting is over. Once Wasilla was used as an ambulance. I was called at 5.30 a.m. to take someone to the hospital. The patient was lifted into the back seat while her family rode with her in the car and in the pickup box. She was so sick that she died several days later.

We use it occasionally for pleasure. We have gone to Dedza to the pottery shop. We have also driven to Mangochi to hear Nelson Mandella, former president of South Africa speak at a Rotary convention.

The pickup is used to get sewing supplies in Old Town. I usually have to accompany Jean because this is a part of Lilongwe where women's purses are snatched and it is not safe to leave one's vehicle unattended. I have pretty much solved the latter problem by taking Alaska Malawi (our dog) along and chaining him in the box. Malawians have a natural fear of dogs and so when the dog is in the box, they do not come close to the truck.

From Old Town, Wasilla has carried a total of five sewing machines in the back box, usually with someone riding with them to make sure they don't fall out or someone does not try to snatch a machine .

The truck has been our personal lifeline for food. Monday is the day we go and buy a week's supply of groceries. Prices at the local store, called the PTC, are high and there is a Shoprite supermarket in Old Town where the prices are much cheaper. Also in that shopping center is a hamburger joint called the Hungry Lion. We don't like their hamburgers too well but we love their soft ice cream. So Monday is ice cream day.

I wish you could see the roads on which this truck has traveled. On the tarmac one has to watch for potholes, but once off the tarmac most roads are one lane and dirt and there is a lot of dust.

Since they are not maintained, they are full of potholes and gullies carved out during the hard downpours of the rainy season.

Once one has to turn off the secondary roads, one drives on a bicycle and foot path. One never knows what one will come upon when driving here. They are so narrow that bicycles and pedestrians have to step to the side. And finally, on occasion, even the bicycle path runs out.

Not long ago that happened on the way to a funeral northeast of Lilongwe. Abusa Nordstrom from Florida was along and the last leg of the journey found us winding our way around granite outcrops and very deep gullies. Abusa Nordstrom had not driven in situations like that before and was grateful when we arrived in one piece.

In all this, we have yet to experience a flat tire. Only once has the vehicle failed -- when we were on our way back to Lilongwe after hearing Nelson Mandella speak. Other than that, the truck Wasilla has served us and this congregation faithfully.

After driving this year in Malawi, I have one fear -- that when I return to Alaska and start driving my own truck again I might drive on the wrong side of the road several times.