The Wheels of Eden

by Cyndi Gummin (Project Eden)

This month, we’ve decided to give you a slightly different look at an important part of our life here at Eden – the wheels that help us get around!  In the early years, our wheels came in two pairs – our two 150cc motorcycles, or if we needed to go further than the immediate neighborhood, we used the wheels attached to the public bus.

Life got a lot more convenient for all of us (except for Dale, our only licensed driver) when Midi joined our family in August, 2011.  We found her in a massive second-hand car market, and knew at once she was perfect for us:  she had a sturdy body, her interior was not too fastidious to haul veggies or furniture, and besides that, she was cute!

Midi has more than proved her worth over the last 5 years as she has faithfully taken staff on their many errands or to meetings in other cities, gone on bi-weekly market runs (we are buying for 20+ people), met visitors at the train/bus stations, hauled maintenance supplies, carried students to the doctor or transported them to school on heavy-rain days. The girls often express their affection by drawing hearts and smiley-faces on Midi’s back windows (sometimes they will even give her a bath).

Whether the journey is near or far, she and we are always immensely thankful for a safe return home.  The streets here in China are highly stressful to navigate, with cars cutting in, running red-lights and flying the wrong-way down one-way streets; motorcycles weaving among traffic or shooting across intersections at will; and pedestrians who cross streets while texting, or just amble along in the lane of traffic. We do not take the protection which has been given to us lightly! We are also very grateful to the man behind the wheel, who in addition to everything else he does, bears the stress and fatigue of driving here, choosing to serve and love us in this very non-glamorous way.