Driving

One of those typical travelers things to talk about: driving and roads. Until I go to India and some other places I don’t really feel like I have room to talk. But since there are hints of people wanting me to drive in South Africa at some point I pay attention a bit more.

After a few mornings of driving in Lubumbashi (where we were really blessed by some of the best roads in town) I explained to some of the drivers the differences.

You see in the United States we drive on the right side of the road and the steering wheel is on the left. This makes sense because the driver can see both sides of the road.

Then you get to South Africa and it took me a few times to remember when trying to get into the passenger’s side, that I would soon be facing the steering wheel. (The drivers were always patient.) So while it takes a little getting used to both the side of the road and the steering wheel side change.

Then I was told in DRC they drive on the right side of the road, and I really don’t want to get all mixed up again. I am just getting used to going to the grocery store and trying to stay to the right.

Well when we get there, the ‘right’ side of the street really means, the part with no holes. I was informed they are too big to be called potholes. It can also mean the smallest part of these huge speed bumps or where there are no people. Again we had an easy time of it, finding manageable paved roads and getting lucky on the route we took, but we also managed to get our heads bumped a few times. And with everyone looking for the ‘right’ side of the road, I was always watching the road and anything moving near it while I was a passenger.

Now the other part of this is where the steering wheel is placed. In truth I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the steering wheels are in the back seat. Or at least we joked about this with some of our friends that drive in the Congo. But some cars have the steering wheel on the left and some on the right. Now when the steering wheel is on the right and you are driving on the right trying to pass all sorts of things, I started realizing how advantageous it is to be able to see both sides of the road more clearly.

Anyway the car rides were beautiful adventures, as were climbing into the far back seats of cars in dresses and with lots of materials from the conference.

We also had the experience of driving through town right after the soccer team (that the governor owns) won a match. And the President was in town too. The streets were flooded and it was amazing to be part of so much life and energy. Beer goes on sale for half price after a win, and I remember talking to someone who thought it was very unfortunate when much of the population could use basic food to go on sale to feed their families.

But my favorite incident on the road was driving with Pastor Thierry to the conference one morning. Any encounter with Pastor Thierry is interesting because the large spectrum of different views always come up and are always debated. We were talking about all the animals around and on this dirt road and chicken started crossing the street very close to the car. Pastor Thierry opened his car door and yelled, “Why don’t you listen?” to the chicken. The only good this did was almost having the chicken jump in the car to peck out its answer. But we were in stitches by the time we reached the conference center, I guess enough is sometimes just enough.