This episode is about a gopher. Not the little critters that tear up golf courses and your back yard, but a specific role that I played for 1 year as a Gopher; as in “go-for this” and “go for that”. I tackled this job to essentially provide logistics support to our mission in Gemena, Zaire/D.R. Congo by helping with transporting fuel, people, freight and driving all over the region. In addition, I handled shopping when supplies were in the stores, immigration issues, customs & duty negotiations, meeting both our mission plane and commercial planes when they landed to coordinate peoples’ arrival and departure. Though not acting in the normal role of missionary, my job was to ensure that the doctors, nurses, pastors, teachers and builders could focus on their ministries by having me do considerable behind-the-scenes functions to keep the mission effort running. I interviewed Jim Aiken who was a Gopher for 2 years in Bangui, Central African Republic, as his experiences mirrored mine. Thelma Landrud, a career missionary nurse weighs in as well in this episode to reflect on how Gophers were considered part of the mission effort and team and to explain the shift in us as kids growing up to becoming contemporaries with the mission effort. It was a tough and challenging job, fraught with long trips, physical challenges, delays, mud, dust and mechanical breakdowns. Stories include taking several days to move a truck and container of stuff less than mile across a sandbar in the middle of a river, and paddling barrels of fuel across a river in a dug-out canoe. Indeed being a Gopher was full of adventure, hard work, surprises, frustrations, physical endurance and much satisfaction. Thanks to Jim Aiken and Thelma Landrud for their contributions to this episode.
Copyright © 2023 by Jeffrey W. Eales. All rights reserved. No portions may be reproduced or transmitted in any format without the prior written permission of the author.
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Hi Jeff. Sure can hear the professionalism added in this post. The Caddyshack soundtrack adds the visual of the dancing gopher. The actual 4 stroke motorcycle sound ( not 2 stroke ). I could feel the panic of visualizing those fuel barrels in the River! Sure was important to build those local relationships to facilitate acquiring goods and assisting with immigration.
Glad you THOUGHT you were COOL back then…hahaha! 1982 was one of the best years ever! That was the year I became a MAN as well. Great to hear and be reminded of that year and your Zaire stories and remember the pictures you brought back. You always were a “STORY” Teller! Linda says this is a good “Bed Time Stories With Jeff”…though I use a different name!! Love ya Brother…Well done…Blessings in HIM!
Hi Jeff
I’m one of the three guys you talked to that Saturday. We were coming down from Santiago peak you were going up. You asked for a favor. To record a Honda 250. That was Brett’s crf250 l. It was nice talking to you. Hope your podcast takes off!
Jeff, that was a lot of growing up you did in one year. I was impressed to hear you drove your motorcycle 160 miles across the country – that sounds pretty dangerous. Your friend Jim had tremendous patience digging out that truck over a 4 day period. Also I was moved by your heart breaking story of losing $3,000 in fuel in the river – you must have felt like strangling a few people after that. Good episode. It’s so wonderful that you have maintained these lifelong relationships with your Congo colleagues.
Jim Aiken greeting us upon arrival in Bangui in 1986 is a legendary memory in our family. And I vividly remember your dad greeting us during our Gemena stopover en route to Tandala a few days later. He informed me that there were going to be four Peters at UBAC that year, and that he didn’t think that had ever happened before. Both he and your mom had a way of humoring us kids that made us feel seen and valued.
I spent a college summer (1995) in Gemena volunteering at CECU with Rachel Martin and organizing sports at the highschool, all of which gave me a similar youth-to-adult perspective change that you describe well. If I’d been brave enough to interrupt my college cycle, I’m sure I would also have loved the Gemena Gopher job.
Jim had some pretty cool Embassy connections in Bangui and with that came sweet perks. Jim often shared those perks with his friends. I remember going to a couple of amazing houses when he was house sitting for Embassy personnel, speed boating on the Oubangui River and hanging out on a sand bar. And watching Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome in Jim’s living room because he was able to borrow the movie (an actual movie, not VHS!) from someone in the Embassy. As a Brethren kid who grew up in the CAR I always loved Bangui anyway, but those were some experiences I wouldn’t have likely had without knowing Jim. 🙂