Anecdote from Africa
I lived in South Africa for four months. It was the experience of a life time, with more adventures than I can count and more love felt than I can explain. Writing about Africa was what made me love to write, so it seems fitting I write about it again.
I went on a hike this weekend to a bridge to nowhere. This bridge to nowhere offers the chance for people to "bungee jump" off of it. I put bungee in quotations because I wanted to laugh when I looked over the edge of the bridge at the distance of the jump. It was maybe -at the most- 20 yards down. The jumpers didn't even fall upside down by their feet. I wanted to walk up to each of them, hold up my phone and say HEY LOOK THIS IS A REAL BUNGEE JUMP, wile proudly showing them pictures of when I jumped off of the Bloukrans Bridge in South Africa, the tallest commercial bungee bridge in the world.
The bungee jumping day in South Africa is one of the days from South Africa I hold very dear. The day before bungee jumping we stayed at a conference center nestled in the coastal hills, serving warm soup at dinner and picturesque views around every turn. We departed from this little oasis early in the morning headed to Bloukrans. The bus rides to and from bungee jumping are some of my favorite bus rides I remember. Every bridge we would come to everyone would stand up, eagerly looking to see if this was the bridge. "You'll know it when you see it," our driver would said. Sure enough we did, because it was the tallest bridge we had yet to come across on our drive and probably the tallest bridge we would drive over in all of Africa.
The Bloukrans Bridge is stunning, a tall spindly thing crossing a cavern. We stood on the viewing balcony looking out at the entire bridge, watching people jump. Then our turn came. We harnessed up. We got the safety lesson. We began the walk across the rickety bridge running underneath the Bloukrans bridge leading us to the front underside of the bridge where we would jump from. This walk was the most nerve wracking part, partially because it was all mesh or metal caging so you could see far far far bellow to the lazily flowing water we were jumping over, partially because there was no turning back now. Music began growing louder and louder as we walked beneath the bridge. The tunes were bumping at the jumping launch area. My friends and I danced. When in doubt, dance it out.
Jumper one. Jumper two. People began jumping, one after another. I watched them go one by one. No nerves had set it for me yet. I was just excited to go. My name was called to be on deck. I sat down as the pad was wrapped around my ankles and the rope was threaded through in some complex way. I sat and waited. The time came for me to hop to the edge of the platform. I looked back and threw up a shaka to my friend standing close to the railing, watching me get ready to jump. I turned around, facing the massive expansive of space and time and blue sky. I thought of all the people I loved standing behind me. I thought of how my family had no idea what I was doing. I wiggled my toes to hang over the side of the cement. I waved goodbye to the camera above me, projecting my jump to all my friends. Then the count. THREE TWO ONE BUNGEE. I jumped into nothingness.
Silence.
Silence
Silence.
Woooooosh -ing of air filled my ears as the bungee reached its full length and pulled me back up. I bounced around upside down for a minute, looking straight down at the water and rocks I didn't crash into and above me to the bridge I vacated with little hesitation just moments before. I was hoisted back up on the opposite side of the bridge, brought to a sitting position, unclipped, and rejoined my friends who were eagerly awaiting the next jumper.
In a moment it was all over.
We looked forward to this day for months. We drove hours to the bridge. The anticipation, the jump, the thrill, it all climaxed faster than I could take in and it was all over in a single count of three. How accurate this is of my feelings of my time in South Africa. I waited for months to go. It was a thrill, it woke me up and colored my world, providing more joy and adventure and love than I could have fathomed. It was shaded with painful, difficult, life altering moments, yet idealistic in a way I never expected,
As I hung in the air, feeling like Spiderman, I thought about the utter silence on the way down. Crazy how sometimes when we jump things don't crash and burn. The moment I jumped was the moment I found silence and peace, the feeling of being alive. I desperately desired to jump again just to hear the silence, to feel as though for a moment I had no worries because something else was in control of holding me and hoisting me to safety.
How often I forget the One who holds me in the same way, begging me to give my safety/comfort/control solely to Him. Jumping off the edge into nothingness can seem like falling to piece but actually, everything can be falling into place.
