Safe travels!

Today I am going to pick my brother and brother-in-law from the airport and could not be more excited!  I am grateful this Thanksgiving for so many things.  I am routinely grateful that my basic needs are met.  Gratitude I hope to take with me far beyond this experience.  I am grateful for friends around the globe.  And I am grateful for family.  I am grateful for their support.  And I am grateful that we can take a family vacation Malawian style, the Griswalds have nothing on this family vacation.

As I have traveled the day and a half to get to the capital to meet them I found myself telling everyone about their coming visit.  Malawians are keen on asking many questions and sometimes I like to offer too much information to satisfy their inquiries.  A classic case of the over-share.  My transport from my remote village, off the grid, started by standing in the back of a pick up truck.  We broke down 3 times in the first 20 miles.  I then got to town and hopped on the back of a semi-truck, which was transporting maize.  This was the perfect ride.  It was beautiful out.  I was basically sitting on a giant beanbag soaking up the African rays.  However, about an hour into the ride the truck breaks down.  I am in the middle of nowhere and start to walk to see if I can hitch a ride.  About a mile into my walk an ambulance pulls over to the side of the road.  They offer me a ride.  I go to get in the back of the Toyota Land Cruiser and see that there might not be room.  Side note: there is always room for one more when it comes to transportation here.  Mini-buses that should carry 12 people regularly carry 30.  This ambulance is no exception. 

I go to get in and the ambulance is transporting a patient, which is a little bit of a surprise because ambulances here are used for many different purposes.  I try to decline the ride but they are persistent I come with them.  I climb in the back and sit on the floor on top of my backpack.  Trying not to invade this sick man’s space.  I look up and see a man in military garb.  We make small talk.  I keep scanning down to see if the man is okay and see that he is in handcuffs.  I then piece it together.  The man is lying on a mat in fetal position, in handcuffs.  This is the conversation between me and the officer:

Me: Oh, you are transporting an ill prisoner?

Officer: Yes, he is not okay.

Me: Sorry to hear that.

Officer: Yes, he is mentally disturbed so we must take him to the regional hospital.  He is mad.

Me: Okay…

Officer:  He is psychotic and has become very violent.

Me: Oh but he is sleeping now. Is he sedated? (naïve me!)

Officer: No, he is very tired because he had a psychotic episode today.

Me: ah…

Officer: Yes, he was very violent.

And cue 5-hour car ride.  I was ready to react…somehow.  When the man woke up and stared at me I tried to look but not too much.  To appear neutral yet natural.  Yeah right.  I can’t hide my feelings of awkwardness very well.  Something for the most part I have come to accept about myself.  But then he started to struggle to sit up, in a manner that took a while without the use of his hands.  My body tensed.  I looked straight ahead.  Hoping that yet another awkward position I found myself in didn’t escalate to an interesting documentary of sorts.  And then the man started to lull back into a sleepy state.  Slowly he began to inch closer to me and then finally rest his head on my shoulder.  I kept thinking of the least of these and that how we treat prisoner’s matters.  How we treat the infirmed matters.  How we treat the mentally unstable matters.  Three-in-one was resting his head onto my shoulder.  And then as we went over bumps and up the escarpment he kept slipping and slipping. And soon his head was resting on my lap as he snored through his slumber.  All the while I was hoping the car ride would end and that it would end with me at the rest house where I could take a hot shower and not end with handcuffs strangling me.  We did arrive.  We arrived at the mental hospital to drop him off.  It was a free ride that resulted in me being in the closest contact I have ever had with a criminal. 

I was able to take a hot shower, although the light bulb broke and I was literally showering in shards of glass.

So maybe my family will get to experience the ease of travel in Malawi.

Safe travels this Holiday Season!