One of the biggest blessings of the New Year for us is that we now have a car!! We had been waiting for it for what seemed to be a very long time, and although it has been fine to use our feet and public transport, sometimes walking in the hot sun seemed like not a smart thing to do. My skin just isn’t made for such strong sun rays, I think, and even with sun screen and umbrella, still damage continues to be done. Anyway, we received funding through Maryknoll Sisters, ordered the car in June, and have since that time been in the process of attaining tax exemption. That came through in late November, and since that time there has been the process of clearance from the bonded warehouse, registration, etc. On Thursday the 7th of January, I got a phone call that the car was ready and could be picked up. Immediately we went into action, arranging for insurance, getting bus tickets, so that we could go to Dar es Salaam to collect it. So on Friday morning we were on the bus to Dar es Salaam. Many phone calls and help from several other people gave us the assurance that the insurance would be ready. The bus left at 7.30 a.m., it’s a minimum of a six hour trip to Dar es Salaam, Toyota offices close at 5.00 p.m., (and we weren’t sure if the insurance sticker had to be collected or would be delivered) so we were hoping for a quick trip so as to arrive early enough to do what needed to be done. Well, Murphy’s Law came into play: When we left Dodoma it started to rain, and it rained heavily for some time. The bus driver was cautious and careful, and drove very slowly through the rain. After a couple of hours, we reached a place where the road descends from the central plains to the coastal area, and again the driver was so careful because of the possibility of a slippery road. On another trip I would have praised the driver for being so careful, but this time I was thinking him to go just a little faster. By the time we were getting close to Dar es Salaam, we were already past the seven hour time, and then the bus was stopped by traffic police. I don’t know what the issue was, but it seemed to take forever for the discussion to be finished, all the while sitting on pins and needles hoping the bus wouldn’t be impounded to a police station or delayed a lot longer. Eventually we were on our way again and arrived at the main bus station at 3.30 p.m. We hired a taxi and were on our way across the city, a city that has grown so much in recent years and has more traffic than it could handle. We passed the office of Sr. Rosanne in mid-town in order to pick up the insurance papers, and off to the industrial area for the car. We managed to get to Toyota’s service garage in about a half hour, and so we had one whole hour in which to finish the handing over, which was done expeditiously, and off we drove with our brand new Daihatsu Terios. So much gratitude is given for the funding and for all who helped move along the other processes.
And all this week I have been driving back and forth to school since the students have mostly arrived and classes have begun. I know hardly any of them by name as yet, but that will come. There are some who obviously have a fairly good background in English, and others who probably have very little, so it will be a challenge to bring them all along together. There are two streams, so far 44 students in one, and 45 in the other. It’s a good thing that the classrooms are spacious and that there’s room enough for them all.
