Chronicles of the Combi -

A bit of a precursor to the story...

1.Botswana has strict driving laws.
2.You are more likely to die by car accident than AIDS in Botswana,
where 50% or more have HIV/AIDS
3.Combi's are often used for public transportation and is illegal to over fill them.

Close Call...
A combi is a van that holds 10 people. However there was 11 of us that needed to get to Kumekwane village (just outside Gabarone in Botswana). So someone said "one of us can just ride in the back "(the hatch). Sounded good at the time, so we went on. All was fine until we came up on a police check point. Michele quickly informed us to take no pictures ( this came as I was snapping some shots of Nicole hiding in the back ) and Nicole( a very quiet swiss girl working for Flying Mission) was to lay down in the back in the hopes of going unnoticed. Then it came our turn to drive through the check point. The tension was high in the combi. Michele rolled down her widow and greeted the officer in Setswana, the official language in Botswana. The officer smiled and appeared to be impressed with this little white girl speaking his language. He began to walk back along the combi looking in the window. Every time he would get close to the back Michele would grab his attention by talking Setswana very sweetly to him and every time it worked. The officer motioned for us to drive on, as we started through there was an officer on both sides of the combi. We all were hoping their eyes would focus on to the car behind us and they did. You could hear the sighs of relief as we drove on to Kumekwane.

Nicole hiding, in the picture below




Random info...
It is illegal to talk on the cell phone while driving in Botswana. Most people have cell phones because it is very difficult to get a land line phone.
It is common to see a man driving a donkey pulled cart and talking on the cell phone, that's legal :)

The Cow and the Combi....
We had just crossed the border into Botswana, and Michele says "help me keep an eye out for cows". I was like "huh"? It was dark and so we were looking for shiny eyes. I didn't realize then that the Botswana people don't fence in there livestock. So you can be on a major road and have to stop for a heard of goats or cows and such.
It was pitch black. We never saw them until we (Michele) swerved to miss them. It was a heard of cows just standing in the middle of the road. We never saw their eyes because we came up behind them. The combi was fish tailing from side to side and we heard a loud thump. The best we can figure we must have grazed the cows butt and hit his tail. Truly Michele saved our lives by handling the combi perfectly. Jeff (Michele's husband) was behind us in his "Landy" and missed them altogether. All Michele could say afterwards is " this is why we don't like driving at night" and I was like "Yeah"!

here's the combi