Another successful trip for the "skipper!" After this
boat full of bicycles and people unloaded, it was our
turn to climb in and head for the other side!
Getting There (and away)
Browse through a Lonely Planet book and you'll find a section entitled "Getting There (and Away)." It's part of the tourist destination write-up that tells you how to get where you are going and what you will most likely need to get there (and away).
I don't think you'll ever find Mtunga Village in a travel book, but you can find it on my "must do" list on places to visit in Malawi.
My reason? There at Mtunga is one of our Lutheran Churches!
If you're interested, for getting there (and away) you will need a truck, a boat, 20 Kwacha and Noah's faith.
The truck "four-by-fours" you through mud, over rocks and up to a soggy swamp.
The boat ferries you across a marsh and a river.
The 20 Kwacha (14 cents) pays the boat fare.
The faith of the old patriarch keeps you from turning back when you first see the boat!
By the way, can you swim?
You may not need to, but then again...you just might! All depends on how balanced the bicycles, maize, goats, chickens, vegetables, passengers and/or whatever else happened to be loaded into the boat when you embark on your trek across the Buwa River!
Noah would have been impressed! Not with my faith but with how many things were piled into the boat! Ours was a couple cubits smaller than the ark, but I think we had just as many things in it!
The boat's width is a bicycle's length. And the boat's length? Roughly four goats standing end to end. (No kid-ding!) Seating capacity? That's the beauty of Malawi transport! There is no capacity! There are no limits! Whether you're wondering how many people can fit into a minibus, in the bed of a truck or on a bicycle, there is always room for one more! One thing to keep in mind about the boat on the Buwa: there just has to be room for the guy with the bucket.
Which reminds me....don't worry about the black swamp-gunk between your toes. It'll wash off in the boat. The guy with the bucket bails water out, but not nearly as quickly as the water pours in!
So with all the ankle-deep liquid filling the bottom of the boat (ok, ok, it may not only be river water, especially if there are nervous goats or small children in the boat) but it does give you an opportunity to de-muck your feet!).
If you weren't savvy enough to take off your shoes when you got out of the truck back at the edge of the swamp, you'll certainly enjoy the smell of the swamp for days to come back home. Your family will thank you profusely for bringing the Buwa home with you! Who needs digital pictures to re-live the moment when you have the real thing caked on your leather footware!
Despite any misgivings, I applaud the boat builder - it didn't sink! And hats off to the guy with the pole - he got us to the other side! And back again!
Bringing a message to people in need of a word from the Word....who would have ever thought I would use a...boat?
I'm waiting (and wading) in the swamp for the boat. (center of this
this picture). The water seen here is not the main river channel. It
is the usual rainy season overflow resulting in a mosquito breeding
marsh!
But as I think about it, I guess it's not all that unique. Jesus used a boat any number of times to do the same thing:
The Master Teacher used one as His chair when instructing a shore-line crowd of people (1); the Storm Stopper was in one when He silenced a furious squall both on the sea and in the hearts of his disciples (2); the demon Destroyer had just disembarked from one when He commanded a Legion to come out of a Garazene (3).
Whether it was to just one person (4) or to a crowd (5), Jesus brought a life-saving message to spiritually drowning people.(6)
To think that He has called us to do the same! (7). I'm convinced that it's worth it! Even if it means that sometimes before I roll up my sleeves to get into the work, I roll up my pants and get into a boat for...
...getting there (and away).
March 2009 Communiqué
1. Luke 5: 1 - 3
2. Mark 4: 35 - 41
3. Mark 5: 1 - 8
4. Mark 5: 18 - 20
5. Mark 6: 30 - 44.
6. Isaiah 43: 1,2a
7. Mark 1: 17
Missionary John Holtz
|
