not a moment too soon!

"Did you get a car yet?"
That's a question I've been asked a lot of times in the past year.  And with good reason.  We did fundraising for a car when we were in the states, and that was over a year ago now.
We were able to buy the car in the picture from another expat in Mali.  It is not the car we fundraised for.  This was just an inexpensive temporary solution.  This car is a 20 year old Toyota Corolla Station Wagon.  We are so thankful to have been able to use this car for the last while, but we are really looking foward to having something newer and more dependable (and with good air conditioning!)  We plan to go to Togo next week to get a car.

This photo could be a joke, like "how many Africans does it take to fix a car?" or something like that.  That's JP at the left, I think he's just there to lend moral support to the mechanic.  The other guy without his head under the hood is the guard for the guesthouse we were at. 
JP drove to Bamako to get me and my mom.  We had to push start the car after we stopped to get something to eat the night we arrived. Fun.
The next morning the car wouldn't start, so JP got out of going to the zoo and mom and I took a taxi while JP tried to get the car fixed.  It turns out that the starter needed replacing.  Cars are pretty worn out after many years on hot, dusty Mali roads - beyond the worn-out-ness that any 20 year old car would have.

The starter only cost $30 including labor to replace.  When we got on the road for the 6 hour trip home it was clear that the car had some other issues.  JP had gotten really sick the night before our trip home, so he just scrunched himself in to lay in the back seat of the car and I drove the whole way with the car having serious issues.  Welcome to Mali, Mom!  It wouldn't accelerate properly, which is terrifying on a highway where it is necessary to pass slow moving trucks and there is oncoming traffic in the other lane.  The car was not fun to drive, but we made it home.  The mechanic took it, which meant more time of my mom's trip in Mali without a car to use.  We got the car back a few days and $300 later, though, and it's doing much better (for now at least.)  Thankfully, a friend offered to let us use her much better car for the trip to take my mom back to Bamako to fly home.  That was such a blessing and we really felt the difference in riding in her car. 

So not a moment too soon!  We are ready to buy the car that so many people have generously contributed to in our fundraising effort.