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A Good Place to Have a Satellite Phone
In December 2009, we were contacted by John VanderMeer, a missionary who provides technical support to Bible translation teams in the Northeast of the DRC (Congo). We were able to help John get service going for his Iridium phone before they set forth on two trips, including one to neighbouring Ugada.
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As you see from the pictures, John and his intrepid family may have found “the worst road in the world.” Having a satellite phone for emergencies, and operational communications, was certainly a good idea.
Here is John’s account, which will give the reader a sense of the life of missionaries in remote regions:
Our family drove to Wamba to celebrate Christmas with the Pygmies and the local church community. I drove that stretch and became my wife's hero, and I a fan of Land Rovers. |
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But a week later, I needed to redefine what it meant "tough roads", when the family drove out of the forest to collect our son landing in Entebbe, Uganda. I was glad to have an experienced Congolese driver with us this time. There were about 100 kilometres of mud.
The water in the pot holes was deep, often half way up the side of the door. One pot hole was so deep that we needed to skirt the edge, My side was the down side, where about 1/3 of the hood/bonnet went under water - the water was only inches from my window. One deviation from these pot holes created by large trucks/lorries had become a small river.
The kids had a blast, in this gravel base river, about 1 foot deep, as we snaked under a canopy of trees for almost a kilometre before rejoining the main road. The driver showed the kids which vine you can cut to get fresh drinking water. So while we were digging, they were running through the forest with the machete, cutting vines, and drinking. They did bring me a cup and it was good.
My part in our mission team is providing technical support. This trip was both to collect our son from the airport, and also to let my family see some of the places that I work. I had some work along the way so it was nice to have these extra hands.
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I knew that this one stretch of road would be tough, but it exceeded even what I was expecting. This and having some mechanical challenges, we did not make the progress I had hoped. We needed to find places along the way to spend the night. Having the Iridium phone, we could make regular progress updates to our director
For more information and pricing of mobile satellite services, contact us at info@humaninet.org and include your organization, region of interest, and general requirement for field communications. Thank you. |
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