Well, its been a long two days. We have driving through the backside of Borneo on our way to the villages where we will spend the next ten days.
We are here to help with some reading and storytelling contests in support of literacy development efforts here. While many here learn to read and write in Indonesian during elementary school, they are not taught how to do so in their local dialect, in their heart language. And since it is useless to have a translation that no one can read, literacy efforts here accompany the translating process.
Half of our team has been riding buses since we left the capital city of this province which, while having a comfortable ride, can be a harrowing experience as the drivers are fearless speeding down narrow roads, bouncing over countless potholes and bullying other traffic out of their way. The rest of us have been following the bus in our host’s Dihatsu Rocky 4×4, trying to keep up despite the truck’s age and the crazy traffic and broken roads.
Driving in Indonesia is an interesting experience. Like many other countries around the world traffic flows in the opposite direction from the U.S. Likewise, the driver sits on the opposite side of the car and show shift with the left hand instead of the right. The accelerator, brake and clutch are in the usual order, though the turn signal and wiper arms are reversed.
Our first three days in the city were spent making preparations to go to the village. The team helped prepare the puppets and make an audio recording of the Bible stories in the local dialect. The Bible story puppet shows are meant to begin the process of injecting God’s Word in to the hearts of this people.
While the team worked on these projects, Helen and I went around town buying the supplies we would need for our time in the villages. While some food and things can be purchased there, the cost is nearly triple of that in the city, so we will be buying most everything here and taking it with us. We will need rice and noodles, canned meats, powdered drink mix to make the boiled water taste better, soap and many other items.
Our shopping trips gave me some much needed practice driving here, as the rules of the road are different and not always even followed.
The first day on the road to the village was exhausting. Trying to keep up with the bus while holding ones own against the on coming traffic is difficult. The main road out of the capitol in quite narrow, and you pass on coming traffic within inches and have only inches to spare on the edge of the road. With the aggressiveness, speed and size of the oncoming trucks and busses, we are almost ran of the road nearly constantly. Passing slower vehicles is an adventure in itself, there are few if any passing zones, you just wait for a clear opportunity and go.
Defensive driving is a must, and offensive driving is a cultural expectation. Driving in Borneo is no place to be timid on the road.
The second day on the way to the village was on dirt and gravel and broken pavement. Sometimes at speed, sometimes crawling in four-wheel drive. Across rickety bridges and through mud and water, around blind curves, through palm oil plantations, and dodging more buses and palm oil trucks.
Driving here is in some ways an act of faith. You have to have faith that the other driver will not stray too far out of their lane. You have to have faith that the countless motorcycles around you will not crash into you. Or you into them. You have to trust your vehicle and your skill. And just like life, when the unexpected and unavoidable happens all we can do is our best and trust God for His protection.
We were on the narrow crazy highway just a few hours out of the capital city when we nearly had a major accident. One of the oncoming trucks strayed to far towards us and we had to go of the edge of the road. When our tires got in the berm it threw the back of the truck to the right and we went off the road straight at a couple of people by their parked motorcycles. We missed them and their cycles by mere inches and barely made it back on to the road.
It is only by God’s grace we didn’t run over them and wreck ourselves. IT shook all of us up and reminded us that we are truly dependent on the Lord….even when we do our best things are not truly in our hands. We had a few more close calls on the way to the villages, but this was the closest. And for the rest of our time there it was a reminder to me, not only to be careful, but to trust that God was with us no matter what.
We arrived in the village area just after dark on the second day of our drive. Despite a fuel leak, broken exhaust, bad roads, heavy traffic, that close call and those two long days we had arrived where we trusted God wanted us.
And despite whatever you faced today, or yesterday…you, just like us, have to trust God..that He is with you, that He is for you… wherever you are, no matter what.
Grace and Peace,
Dave, and for Helen
