Guys ile mambo nimeonea S. Sudan wacha tu sometimes I sit at a club having a beer naanza kucheka nikikumbuka. Back in 2006 when I was relatively new in the trucking business, I got work for my 2 ten wheeler mitsubishi fuso trucks.
T[CENTER]he job entailed moving to lokichoggio (Kenya Sudan border town) with my 2 trucks and from then supplying relief aid all over S. Sudan with the UN camp at loki being the starting point. For those who know kazi ya transport you have to be near your trucks to manage them well, and so fueled the trucks and moved to loki with 5 workers. 2 drivers, 2 co driver and Odhis who was a mechanic/ puncture repair man/ grease man yaani he was a jack of all trades :D:D:D:D
The job went on well, trucks load, 2 or 3 days later zinarudi Odhis anafanya kazi yake servicing. Load again zinaenda tunabaki na Odhis tukikula miraa (used to chew then)few days later zinarudi. Repeat the same process and so forth.
Sasa, my problem started when after almost 2 month of continuous work. One driver after loading stated that he couldnt go because he had lost a relative at home and his turn boy was also sick.
After much deliberating, we decided to deliver the goods with Odhis. The delivery was for a town called Chukudum.
We left loki the following day morning, drove the whole day and by late evening we got to kapoeta. Back then each truck had a 6kg meko and enough food to last for a few weeks. We cooked with Odhis, Ugali and dried vegetables sourced from Delamere shop and spent the night there.
Come morning, we left the road to Juba and branched off headed to Chukudum. After doing 50km of muddy bush roads, nikaskia some loud clattering of steel. Kumbe ni differential(diff) imekufa.
Sasa mechanic yuko but spares hakuna. We disassembled the diff for the remaining part of the day and rested as we waited for any car/truck to appear ndio tusaidiwe.
Wadau mnajua tulingoja for 6 days ndio gari ya kwanza ilikuja? Traffic on that road was non existent. Kazi ni kupika na kulala. Then came the 2nd problem, who goes for spares/help and who is left guarding the truck?
We decided i go and left Odhis with enough food for 2wks. The sudanese army truck that gave me a lift left me at kapoeta and from there i boarded a kenyan bound truck to loki the following day. On reaching loki i was shocked to find out that my other truck had not returned and it had infact left loki before we did.
All i could do was try and repair one and hope for the best on the 2nd one. I sourced for the complete diff in Nairobi and it was sent by plane around 3 days later.
I then took a friends landcruizer plus another mechanic and we headed to where Odhis was. Going and coming back had taken me a week but the suprising thing is nilikuta Odhis amemaliza bale mzima ya unga:D:D:D:D. He’d already made friends, kumbe kijaluo na some sudanese tribes wanaelewana ni story tu walikuwa wanapiga.[/CENTER]
Odhis did his job, kwanza na psyche mingi sana ndio arudi kenya. We later got to our destination offloaded and headed back.
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On reaching loki nakutana na the other driver and turnboy.[/CENTER]
Me: gari iko wapi?
Driver:(With a Meru accent) walilipua boss…
Me:Ati nini.
Driver: SPLA walituambia tuwabebe wakapigane, tukakataa wakalipua gari yako boss!
That is why i say Sudan ni meffi tu.