Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Ode to Malawian Drivers II

Every week we drive down this crazy hill with hairpin bends and long grass and bicycles. Right near the top though, the road goes sharp left- but there are skid marks and a mangled safety rail where somebody evidently didn't make the turn.
I asked a local Malawian about it. He said 2 trucks went over about a month ago- both loaded with gravel, the second truck without breaks. 4 people died. Why am I telling you this now? cos today I discovered that my colleague Ben had photos- and they are such a sobering reinforcement of everything Ive been whinging about... that they deserve to be posted as a sequel. I promised Ben I would reference him and share a cut of the royalties, so- thanks for the pics Ben- the cheque's in the mail.
these pictures may disturb some viewers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah - that's stomach-churning. What kind of maintenance gets done on your car?

the sojourner said...

Did you know someone dropped by last week to pick up my car to...check the oil and water for me hehhahahahahe like i dont do that myself!- they also washe dit underneath cos i had been 4wding! yeah- our cars are serviced regularly in blantyre and we have a backyard workshop here for anything small which is great. In fact- Barbie is probably one of the nicest/ newest / mechanically-sound cars Ive ever 'owned'. hey have you guys sold your other car yet?