When 40 minutes became 24 hours!

What was meant to be a short trip of about 40 minutes turned out to be a muddy journey of 24 hours. Last week we had a meeting in Tamale about the hostel 'Tahima Yili' (Home of Hope) with some of the committee members. One of these members lives right on the other side of town and had no transport to get home, so I (Abukari) decided to take her in the car after the meeting. Her house is on the outskirts of Tamale and in that area no roads have been constructed yet. Even though we were aware that certain places are impassable at this time of the year because of the heavy rains, we were so busy discussing issues concerning the hostel that we forgot to dodge a certain place in the path leading to the house. By the time we felt the car sink away in the clay ground it was too late. Having just loaded the car with floor tiles for the extension of our house in Yendi there was no way the four wheel drive could pull us out.

'scene of the calamity'

What should we do? Fortunately the mobile phone network was working and I could reach a tipper truck driver. He came to my rescue. Getting close to the car he turned his truck but unfortunately his tyres also started to sink away in the mud and before we even had a chance to undertake any rescue the tipper truck was as stuck as our car. Abu, the driver of the truck, called one of his colleague tipper truck drivers. He gave us hope again. Over the telephone he assured us that never ever in his career as a driver had he become stuck with his vehicle. Quickly he made his way to our stranded vehicles. Observing the situation and being directed by a number of onlookers he brought his truck closer and closer. But in the last move to put his truck in the best position to start pulling, the mud started to swallow his wheels as well. Frantic efforts to save the situation on part of the driver did not render any result. In the meantime it was 8.30 pm, very dark and we were all very hungry. We decided to give up for the day. We called a friend who lived not too far away from the place of 'disaster' and he came to give all of us a lift home.

The next morning we went round Tamale to find somebody who would be willing to hire out his tractor for us to continue our rescue efforts. By 8.30 am we were back at the scene with a tractor, two monkey jacks, stones and two men to operate the equipment. Friends and family had heard about the adventure and some of the strong men came to see what they could do to help. A farmer on his way to his land got off his bicycle, shaking his head when he saw the stranded vehicles. He said, 'I was planning to go to my farm, but when I saw this there is nothing else I can do than help to get the vehicles out.'

'the rescue team'

Then the heavy work started on the first tipper - digging, putting blocks and branches under the wheels, pushing and pulling. At some places the men sank up to their knees in mud. Eventually, at 11.00 am the first truck was pulled out. Around noon the second one was back on solid ground.

'the rescued tippers back on solid ground'

That just left our vehicle and at about 2.00 pm in a second effort to pull our car out - which was successful - the tractor got stuck! It was at this time I got access to a camera to give you an impression of what the situation looked like. Eventually, after 4.00 pm all the vehicles were out of the mud and we all drove back to better roads. By 5.00 pm I finally got back to the house with an extremely dirty car. Even though it was hard work and a long day we had a lot of fun together sharing big stories about cars being stuck!

'rescuing the tractor'

'our car back on the road'

PLEASE PRAY FOR:

• Good health; all of us have been sick a number of times since we returned to Ghana at the end of June.
  
  
• Protection against floods; it has been raining a lot in the Northern part of Ghana as well as in countries North of us. To prevent flooding in Burkina Faso they had to open a dam yesterday, which will affect the rivers in Ghana in a few days to come. The government has already warned people living and farming close to the rivers to evacuate their belongings and harvest any crops which have been matured (instead of letting them dry on their stalks like corn). As the rivers have already started to flood in Ghana as well people fear another disaster like last year's flooding.
  
  
• Finishing and opening of the hostel 'Tahima Yili'; we hope to open the hostel for students at the start of the new school year (first week of September) and there is still a lot of work to be done. Pray also for the selection of students, that those who are in most need will be admitted (see our blog entry Building, Building, Building - 13.02.2008).