A few days in the life of the POMC Land Cruiser

Tuesday:
The GAR staff picks up 6 PLWHAs (people living with HIV/AIDS) from the surrounding villages (more than 3 hours apart) and brings them to Coptic Hospital in Nairobi for medical care. After bumping over rocky and semi-flooded roads, we make it to a tarmac road, only to stall out around a sharp curve going up a mountain with no shoulder. Because the battery has a poor connection and the car needs momentum to start, we have to back the car without power (or steering) down the mountain, across oncoming traffic into a “Rift Valley Lookout” tourist stop. Luckily it makes it to the rest stop and the engine revs with a push and starts up again. After bringing people to the hospital, the car makes a few trips across the city without mishap, always parked facing downhill to ensure that it will start again. The journey back home begins early evening, with a total of 15 people piled into the car, in addition to gas canisters, suitcases, medicine bags and groceries. Most people are dropped off at their homes by around 9pm, but as the staff went to drop off the final few clients, the vehicle got stuck in the mud. It had rained earlier that day, and the four-wheel drive no longer works, so no matter what they did, they couldn’t get the car out. The back tires were wedged into a hole and could not be moved. Staff called a friend to pick them up in a truck. The land cruiser stayed put for the night.

Wednesday:
Joseph, GAR staff and driver, gets up early and goes together with his brother and the 10-ton lorry he drives to try to pull out the land cruiser. After a couple hours, they are able to get it free and bring it back to the POMC farm (where our house is). The GAR staff are waiting. Wednesday means another trip about 2 hours away for an AIDS seminar. They load up the vehicle with mattresses, tents, a PA system, microphones and luggage. At Suswa, the vehicle becomes a VCT (voluntary counseling and testing centre) with people going in and out as they are counseled on HIV/AIDS and tested. More supplies and people piled in as we head to another village that evening over roads that would not be roads anywhere in the US. We were climbing hills meant to be left alone, tossing and bumping our way through thorns, bushes, rocks and seasonal streams. We arrive at the homestead where most of the staff would stay, so out come the tents, bags and food. A handful of us work our way back to Najile on those same roads-that-shouldn’t-be-roads, getting home around 9pm.

Thursday:
MFSP gets a late-morning start in the POMC Land Cruiser after spending multiple hours searching for diesel fuel. The local pump ran out, so people had to go to Ewuaso (10km away) for fuel. The cruiser arrives in Mosiro, after 3.5 hours of driving on rocky, dusty, and mountainous roads. There were farm visits, project inspections and agricultural trainings to do throughout the area. By early evening, the MFSP staff are on their way home. Two hours into the drive, as darkness replaced sunlight, a series of bolts broke, causing the drive shaft to stop sending power to the wheels. The Cruiser stood stuck on a hill, as the staff looked in vain for a solution. It was night, there is no cell phone reception and the nearest mechanic would be hours away. The staff would spend the night in the car, huddling near the floor where the heat of the engine kept them warm.

Friday:
The next morning, a heavy lorry was called to haul the vehicle back to Najile. By noon the vehicle was home, but crippled. The tires and broken pieces were taken to Ewuaso to be repaired. Parts were not available, so a further trip to Maai Mahiu pushed repair completion late into the night.

Saturday:
By morning, the vehicle was heading back to Suswa, working its way through the bush to fetch the GAR staff. Will the vehicle make it? Probably not. But it’ll keep rolling its way around Maasai-land until God calls it to the great junkyard in the sky.