"They've moved, that's the news." My friend is leaning out of the Land Cruiser, greeting a friend of a friend as we drive through a market area. I am sure we are almost to the end of the world…
We are heading out to visit a clan that has great spiritual interest- part of an unreached nomadic group in the eastern basin of the country. When this clan told my friends that one of their biggest problems was women dying in childbirth, my friends wanted to bring someone along who could teach a bit on the subject, so I joined them for a weekend trip. But now the news is the clan is not where expected- we'll have to drive a lot further, and maybe cross some water…….
I'm not the driver, so it all sounds fun and adventurous to me. I don't generally turn down chances to see a new part of the country. I could tell we were quite a bit lower than the Ethiopian highlands from the mosquitos and stuffy, hot air at the hotel the night before. But now in the car it was not uncomfortable, and I was enjoying the stark desert scenery.
We cross a river over a big bridge, and then came to a big muddy looking area- not really a river, maybe a place where a riverbed hadn't dried? Camel watering hole? They did, I will say, get out, get wet, walk around in it, and try to figure if we could cross. We thought we could.
But………we were wrong. The car got stuck right at the far end of the watering hole- really stuck, sideways/tilted and wedged in this mucky looking water.
The story is long, but I will make it short. We waited 8 long hours in that hole- us gals staying at the car and the men walking to look/ask for help. In the end, at the end of the day, a tractor came and, for 87 birr an hour, pulled us out of the "miry clay." We had an amazing sense of unity with all the community standing around when the car was finally pulled out.
We never made it to see our friends and teach! Why did God orchestrate our weekend that way?? I don't doubt that God has His reasons and I am eager to visit again.
