Good News II Lake Tanganyika: Salvaging of "The Nyati"

The hot African sun beats down on the weary diggers. White skin is burned to a crisp, black skin is burned even darker, as they dig. The sweat glistens on their back as they strain every muscle to lift the spades of mud. Wearily, they strain their eyes from the glare of the sun, as the hippos wallow in the lukewarm water and the crocodile awaits its next prey. The antelope graze not far away, and the monkeys stare inquisitively from under a bush. The sun does not relent its ever-present glare, and as the day wears on, the diggers draw nearer to their goal.

What would compel a group of men to leave the comforts of their home to dig a hole the size of a container, under the African sun? Could it be adventure? Yes and no, for it is more than adventure. It is the fulfilment of a vision; a vision given by God more than a hundred years ago. A vision to put a boat on Lake Tanganyika, a mobile clinical boat to be used as an entry strategy into the villages around the lake.

A team of men, consisting of 6 members from Good News II ministry, 1 from TTN (To the Nations) and 2 people hired to help. We set out of from Mpulungu, to Kasaba Bay, north east from Mpulungu, to salvage the boat, “the Nyati”, of the former president of the republic of Zambia, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda. The boat had been beached 20 years ago, and been stripped of all its finery, the engine rusted beyond repair, and all the wood rotten. Yet, the hull is still intact. One or two tiny leaks, easily plugged and she is ready to go. There is only one problem. The boat is three meters from the shore line, and weighs two tons. Normally one would call for a tractor and pull her out, or something in that line. However, in the middle of Africa, a thousand km from the nearest city, your first problem is, “Who do you call?” If you could call someone, how do you get the equipment there? There are no roads! So we have to do it the hard way, the manual way. WE DIG! For six days, from six-to-six, WE DIG! Through sand and gravel, through grass and rocks ranging from the size of your hand to 300 kg boulders, WE DIG! Every muscle you can think of, and some you cannot, hurt. The sun burns your skin dark and the temperature above over 35ºC.

On the fifth day we believe (and hope) that our hole is deep enough. Div takes a long pole and, standing from a safe distance swings at the braces keeping the boat from falling. As the last brace falls, the boat gives a groan of relief and falls beautifully into the hole we dug. The shouts of eleven men rise high. The boat is floating on the water that fills the hole. But we are not done. The boat may lie in the small bay we dug for her, but she is still three meters away from the lake. And so we dig again, only this time we dig in the water. The area from the small bay to the actual water is no more than two square meters, but it is only about a foot deep. Again, WE DIG! for yet another day.

On the seventh day, the hole is deep enough for us to pull her into the water. Ten men pull and push, lift and rock. With a lot of help from a jet boat pulling, the Nyati rides the waters of Lake Tanganyika again, and isn’t she a beauty. So now the first step into fulfilling the vision has been taken.