1 July, Friday
“we did it, 21 border-crossings, 27 000 km: Namibia!”
I could not sleep last night and was awake till 3:30. I am so
excited and it feels like the day before I got married, or had a baby or did
something spectacularly exciting. I am actually going home after 17 years…and I
did not realize the depth of the emotions churning around in me:
nervous – the long-awaited day has finally come
overcome with thankfulness for so many things that I’m afraid I might leave something out:
protection through almost 6 months of traveling– we never felt unsafe or in danger, but for what happened in Harare; health: minor problems here and there, but nothing
significant; no serious problems with ‘Old Faithful’ after almost 27 000 km
which is remarkable, especially after hearing what could go wrong and did with
other over landers;
no accidents on treacherous roads shared by almost anything and anyone you can think of –
wheels, people, livestock and much more you cannot think of
faithfulness of friends and family over the world who ‘traveled’ with us in thoughts, prayers and messages of love and care;
although we are running tight - financial provision to bring us here in spite of unexpected and
unplanned extra expenses with visa problems and border crossings;
growing closer and knitting together of 4 hearts for life through shared joys, hardships,
difficulties, emotional ups and downs– and this is a big one, because we know of
splits, fractured and very strained relationships during and at the end of the journey;
basic, but good food most of the time – we never went to bed hungry;
amazing opportunities where we could fellowship, and share in the lives of friends in ministry that we worked with for many years; countless experiences of meeting new friends planned
and unplanned –sometimes in the most unexpected and strange circumstances and
always with a strong sense of: this is no coincidence and…and…endless…
I want to cry and I’m not sure what to cry about? I’m not unhappy or sad – filled with wonder about what we’ve seen and experienced; filled with awe for grace bestowed on us;
filled with the unspeakable for the mystery of life.
It is a cool crisp morning and we pack and strap in record time.
Our excitement is palpable – we enter the last stretch like marathon runners who
can finally see the end. Yesterday, on our way into Botswana we passed a
supermarket called Choppies! Choppies – I love it – ‘see you later, I’m going
to Choppies to buy choppies’, so I have to stop at Choppies and we buy sausages
and chippies for breakfast at Choppies!
We arrive at the Botswana border in less than an hour and are
joined by a group of Afrikaans speaking South Africans from the Orange-Free
State who are 4x4-ing through Botswana and Namibia. It is fun to speak
Afrikaans and hear about their experiences. We fill the small office to fill
out the exit forms and I feel closer to home than ever before when the Botswana
immigration officer speaks Afrikaans to all of us. I wait outside and there across the Otto Beit Bridge, a stone
throw, Namibia. The crisp air has warmed up and as I look across to our final
destination it almost feels as if time has frozen; even the atmosphere is
holding her breath for the last crossing!
Across the bridge with Willie Nelson singing in my mind, ‘Good
morning, Namibia, how are you? Say don’t you know me, I’m your native
daughter…’17 ½ years of leaving, visiting, leaving, visiting, but always having
to leave again. This time is different though: we are back with no leaving
lurking in the distance.
We take pictures outside the border post – we’ve made it! It is
hard to curb the emotions racing, chasing and crashing into one another. We
drive to Katima Mulilo, the capital town of the Caprivi and are so surprised
with the growth and development since we visited 25 years ago. Spar supermarket
is our next stop and we buy genuine ‘boerewors’ (home made sausage) to barbecue
and treats that we’ve longed for.
Our camping spot is on the banks of the Kunene River where we
meet André and Anne from Hout Bay in Cape Town. We hear and speak Afrikaans
everywhere and I realize how much I’ve missed it. It did not happen often,
probably when I was in a nostalgic mood, that I would pass my friendly
neighbor, in France, with his pipe suspended from his mouth, or walk into a
store in America, or go for a walk with a friend in Germany, and have the
fleeting wish that they could greet me or talk to me in Afrikaans. Reality
quickly pushed the moroseness and wishes away for life to continue in a good
way.
The 4 of us share an unspoken, strange and unfamiliar sense of
accomplishment; filled with humble thankfulness I want to shout it out to the
world, “we did it, 21 border-crossings, 27 000 km: Namibia!”
“we did it, 21 border-crossings, 27 000 km: Namibia!”
I could not sleep last night and was awake till 3:30. I am so
excited and it feels like the day before I got married, or had a baby or did
something spectacularly exciting. I am actually going home after 17 years…and I
did not realize the depth of the emotions churning around in me:
nervous – the long-awaited day has finally come
overcome with thankfulness for so many things that I’m afraid I might leave something out:
protection through almost 6 months of traveling– we never felt unsafe or in danger, but for what happened in Harare; health: minor problems here and there, but nothing
significant; no serious problems with ‘Old Faithful’ after almost 27 000 km
which is remarkable, especially after hearing what could go wrong and did with
other over landers;
no accidents on treacherous roads shared by almost anything and anyone you can think of –
wheels, people, livestock and much more you cannot think of
faithfulness of friends and family over the world who ‘traveled’ with us in thoughts, prayers and messages of love and care;
although we are running tight - financial provision to bring us here in spite of unexpected and
unplanned extra expenses with visa problems and border crossings;
growing closer and knitting together of 4 hearts for life through shared joys, hardships,
difficulties, emotional ups and downs– and this is a big one, because we know of
splits, fractured and very strained relationships during and at the end of the journey;
basic, but good food most of the time – we never went to bed hungry;
amazing opportunities where we could fellowship, and share in the lives of friends in ministry that we worked with for many years; countless experiences of meeting new friends planned
and unplanned –sometimes in the most unexpected and strange circumstances and
always with a strong sense of: this is no coincidence and…and…endless…
I want to cry and I’m not sure what to cry about? I’m not unhappy or sad – filled with wonder about what we’ve seen and experienced; filled with awe for grace bestowed on us;
filled with the unspeakable for the mystery of life.
It is a cool crisp morning and we pack and strap in record time.
Our excitement is palpable – we enter the last stretch like marathon runners who
can finally see the end. Yesterday, on our way into Botswana we passed a
supermarket called Choppies! Choppies – I love it – ‘see you later, I’m going
to Choppies to buy choppies’, so I have to stop at Choppies and we buy sausages
and chippies for breakfast at Choppies!
We arrive at the Botswana border in less than an hour and are
joined by a group of Afrikaans speaking South Africans from the Orange-Free
State who are 4x4-ing through Botswana and Namibia. It is fun to speak
Afrikaans and hear about their experiences. We fill the small office to fill
out the exit forms and I feel closer to home than ever before when the Botswana
immigration officer speaks Afrikaans to all of us. I wait outside and there across the Otto Beit Bridge, a stone
throw, Namibia. The crisp air has warmed up and as I look across to our final
destination it almost feels as if time has frozen; even the atmosphere is
holding her breath for the last crossing!
Across the bridge with Willie Nelson singing in my mind, ‘Good
morning, Namibia, how are you? Say don’t you know me, I’m your native
daughter…’17 ½ years of leaving, visiting, leaving, visiting, but always having
to leave again. This time is different though: we are back with no leaving
lurking in the distance.
We take pictures outside the border post – we’ve made it! It is
hard to curb the emotions racing, chasing and crashing into one another. We
drive to Katima Mulilo, the capital town of the Caprivi and are so surprised
with the growth and development since we visited 25 years ago. Spar supermarket
is our next stop and we buy genuine ‘boerewors’ (home made sausage) to barbecue
and treats that we’ve longed for.
Our camping spot is on the banks of the Kunene River where we
meet André and Anne from Hout Bay in Cape Town. We hear and speak Afrikaans
everywhere and I realize how much I’ve missed it. It did not happen often,
probably when I was in a nostalgic mood, that I would pass my friendly
neighbor, in France, with his pipe suspended from his mouth, or walk into a
store in America, or go for a walk with a friend in Germany, and have the
fleeting wish that they could greet me or talk to me in Afrikaans. Reality
quickly pushed the moroseness and wishes away for life to continue in a good
way.
The 4 of us share an unspoken, strange and unfamiliar sense of
accomplishment; filled with humble thankfulness I want to shout it out to the
world, “we did it, 21 border-crossings, 27 000 km: Namibia!”
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