I wasn't able to visit Sudan on this cycling trip, but I have been there in the past, to visit my brother. At the time, he was working for Samaritan's Purse setting up schools. While I was there I shared a tukal (room) with Lagu, the famous Sudanese mountain climber.
Anyway, Lagu is in Uganda these days. It was good to see him. This picture was taken on Christmas last year. This is a story that he told me.
There is a stream near the Samaritan's Purse compound in Sudan. When I was there it was dry, but during the rainy season it has a couple feet of water.
Once during the rains, a truck arrived at the banks of the stream. The driver had his assistant get out and test the water. They decided it wasn't too deep. Unfortunately, the thing they didn't consider was that the bottom of the stream was just drifting sand. They were soon very stuck.
They worked all afternoon but couldn't move. In the evening, they decided to give up for the night and use the Samaritan's Purse/Community tractor to pull them out in the morning.
The next day Lagu happened to pass by the stream in the course of his morning activities. The truck had fallen on its side and sunk into the sand. Only little bit was sticking out above the water.
The tractor crew tended to sleep late and by the time they got out of bed and down to the stream, the truck was completely submerged. It took them a while to find it.
2 comments:
Heh, that amuses me. I imagine the truck driver was very surprised to find that his ride had disappeared.
Olivier nalule said...
The drivers would first get information concerning the rainy seaons of Sudan so as to know when it floods. According to the report(from google: on the Report Version 3, 2005.Rent Country Starbase.
It states that during rainy season the Samaritan Purse Compound floods during the months of August and October.
Again, travelling in such places, there is need to use lorries having the Four Wheel Drive to avoid getting stuck in the mud.
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