Phase One: Oyo to Brazzaville

Our trip down to Brazzaville did not go as planned. We were supposed to go down in the car with our brother-in-law leaving at noon on Thursday so we could go to our appointment at the Embassy to pick up Salem’s passport on Friday morning.

However, the aforementioned brother failed to tell us about his additional car troubles and change of plans so we spent most of the day ready to leave, waiting for him to show up. Aravis napping in the living room since we’d already packed up her bed:

By around 3 or 4pm Orcxance started working hard on plan B: taking our car instead. If any of you heard about our last road trip with our car, you will realize this was a very desperate plan B. A trip that should have taken us 6 or 7 hours stretched to 16 hours. So I wasn’t feeling too good about plan B, but we didn’t have a lot of options. Orcxance didn’t want us going on the Night Bus. Yes, it’s a thing.

At around 7pm Orcxance appeared and told me the updated plan. Our friends and neighbors really pulled through for us and I was amazed at the generous send-off we had with multiple people putting an effort into getting us going. When they realized we had a deadline to meet, they pitched in and made it happen. It really touched my heart because they just did it out of kindness for us, not to get anything because they all knew we were leaving this town probably for good and would never see them again. It was the most unconventional and beautiful goodbye I’ve ever had.

Our old pastor insisted on traveling with us, and he ended up waiting most of the day as well, since the original plan was that he would go with us in our brother-in-law’s car. When the plan started to come together, Pastor called his son to come and bring him some stuff and he showed up on the motorcycle, which ended up playing an important part in the makeover that our car needed. Orcxance’s brother, a coworker and several neighbors spent a few hours changing tires, checking fluids, filling up tire air and radiator water, changing out the battery and searching high and low for gas. His coworker came over and gave us the battery out of his car. Another neighbor sold us the last of his gas. Orcxance knew we needed a mechanic in case we had serious trouble on the road so he went and rousted Gedeon out of bed, told me to dose him up with malaria meds and after he grabbed his tools he joined the party.

Then we realized the headlights weren’t working. It was almost 10pm this point. So one of the young neighbor guys took the headlights off the pastor’s motorcycle (with permission), separated them and rewired the system so the replacement lights would turn on just like headlights. Pastor’s son drove home in the dark, coworker went off with a bad car battery and a very sick mechanic joined us for the epic nighttime drive into the wilderness. Mechanic Gedeon pictured below with Orcxance:

We loaded up the car with some items, leaving the rest for Many and Felie to come with the two remaining children (Vanquer and Aravis) the next day. I was not sure about leaving Aravis but it turned out to be a good choice. She would have been horribly miserable and Felie is like a second mother to her.

1am found us in the town of Gamboma with a drizzling rain coming down and some guys in winter attire selling snacks and hot drinks by the side of the road. We were actually pretty cold by this point. I hadn’t anticipated being cold but if we thought about wind coming in full blast and rain with no windows, I would have grabbed a few more things like blankets and extra jackets from the house. Stress tends to leave one’s brain a bit addled so I suppose that’s how I forgot important items, because most stuff left behind for the others to bring.

Orcxance bought some hot tea in a plastic baggy which he transferred to an empty soda bottle and we shared the tea. Pastor drank a strange coffee and coke mixture and Gedeon smoked cigarettes ferociously. A couple of guys helped scour the streets for plastic bags and soon we had two of the windows somewhat covered. Here’s the dirty shower curtain someone found that we used on one window:

This helped the next few hours not be so miserable. I had the girls sitting/leaning against our pillows and covered them completely with a sheet and they slept for several hours that way. Around 4am the car rattled to a stop in the middle of open grassland. A flat tire. No big deal, we had the tools and the spare. But then we couldn’t find the tool to loosen/tighten anywhere. We did a pretty thorough search of the car with no luck. But we had our chain smoking, sick mechanic with us who managed to change the tire without it. I huddled in the car praying they could change the tire and somehow, about an hour later, we were back on the road.

They had to make their own tire iron:

I think Pastor was wired from his coke and coffee and he insisted on driving the whole way. He didn’t do too badly and we didn’t hit any potholes exceptionally hard. At the time we were due for our appointment we were still over an hour away from Brazzaville. I was able to text the guy at the Embassy and tell him we were coming but we’d be late and to please wait for us. We got into Brazzaville, Gedeon took over driving and once we were well into the city we got pulled over by the police. Orcxance handed them some money, grabbed our backpacks and left Pastor, Gedeon and a groggy Molly and Eileen to sort it out with the police while we jumped in a taxi with Salem and headed to the embassy. Orcxance spent the short drive changing out of filthy clothes into dress pants and a button-down shirt. I had no extra clothes or shoes so I went as I was, except I quickly exchanged my headscarf for a lacy headband. Everyone at the Embassy was super nice and didn’t mind that we were late, except we had to wait longer because of the consular officer being in a meeting. They handed Orcxance his passport first and we sat down and stared at the visa. It was a moment of thanksgiving and relief. We’ve waited five years for this. We sat there staring at it for a few minutes, said a prayer of thanksgiving and then looked over the other papers. The consular officer answered our questions, gave us Salem’s passport with instructions on how to exchange it for a 5-year one in the US and we were on our way.

Back at my sister-in-law Joseline’s house we found the girls, breakfast eaten, playing with all their cousins’ exciting toys. Joseline cooked up a meal for Pastor and Gedeon and we spent the afternoon taking naps and watching kids cartoons. Kelci and I changed our plans for a visit and instead arranged to meet the next day; we were too exhausted to go anywhere.

And I’m sure that someone, somewhere, is thinking: “Praise God, my Katie made it!” If you know, you know. We’ll catch you on the flip-flop.