The Driving Saga

A page from the driver's
manual warning one to watch for animals
and some blobs to represent said animals

The saga started seven weeks ago, at the beginning of April, when we went in to find out the best way to get Ivorian drivers’ licenses. We signed up, paid a fee and received the “rules of the road” book to study. The book was informative, although some of the signs in the book appeared to have blobs representing different things. Would we be able to recognize the blobs on the signs? We would try.

Graffiti on the door to the exam room reads "le terrible"

Four weeks later, at the end of April, we went to take the oral exam to get the licenses. We arrived at 9 a.m. & as we waited, the anxiety mounted...15 minutes...30 minutes...an hour. At 10:10, we were told to wait in front of the exam room, where a single piece of graffiti had been written on the door: "le terrible." Not encouraging. Other people keep jumping in line in front of us, then it's finally our turn. We sit. The man behind the desk asks me twice if I speak French, but he doesn’t ask Bobby. Bob gives his info & goes across the room to wait for the oral questions. I look across the desk to see that the employee has already signed his signature stating that Bobby has passed the test.

Another man currently taking his test (as Bobby waits) is getting questions wrong & his examiner is yelling "ZERO!" (Again, not encouraging.) The man behind the desk asks me an incomprehensible question (while yelling at others that there is too much noise in the room). I attempt an answer that does not satisfy him & he tells me to go across the room to identify road signs. But Bob is still waiting, so he orders Bob (who has yet to be asked a single question) out of the room, they ask me a few questions (including, "Which signs do you know?"), tell me I'm done & tell both me & Bobby to go home. Good news: We passed this portion! Bad news: At this point, I'm a bit concerned about the thoroughness of this process...

Bobby's view from the back of the truck during the exam

Fast forward two weeks later. Since I have never driven a manual transmission car, I decide to practice and Bobby goes in for the driving portion of the test. When he arrives, he is discreetly shown a stamped piece of paper, but doesn’t know what it means. He sits down and waits. And waits. And waits. Finally, an employee tells him that he will accompany Bobby to the site where the driving portion will take place. Apparently, the others taking the exam are already there. Bobby drives the employee, who questions how Bobby can be driving without a license (he answers that he has an international license), and they arrive at the testing site. Although Bobby is getting a license to drive a car or a moto, the testing vehicle is a truck…with about 20 people piled into the back. Bob piles in the back, too, and with the examiner in the passenger’s seat in the cab, each examinee jumps out of the bed of the truck to take turns driving…for half a block each! There’s jolting and lurching and finally, as each examinee finishes, he leaves to walk home and the number of men in the back of the truck gets less and less until no one is left in the back except Bobby. It’s his turn. He gets in the driver’s seat and drives the examiner back to the motor vehicles building. He has passed part two!

Time to get his license, right? Wrong. He retrieves his paper with the stamp on it, goes to the office to get the license and finds that the state where he was born in India, the state of Meghalaya, does not exist in the computer system. One’s place of birth must be stated on the license and since his state is not in the system, no license.

But the employee assures him that they will call their main office in Abidjan and have the state of Meghalaya added to their database in order for it to be printed on his license. They will call him next week when the system has been updated.

He receives a call on Monday afternoon: Meghalaya now exists in their system. He has all he needs for his license. He goes to the motor vehicles office and when he arrives, he is asked for a copy of his passport, which he had produced six weeks ago at the start of the saga but he does not have with him now. Another trip back home. He finds his passport and, voila! He finally gets his Ivorian driver’s license…which never expires.

We were thankful to finally have the saga come to a positive conclusion and now we ask you to join us in praying for safety on the road!

UPDATE: Two weeks after Bobby received his license, Jenny took her driving test. She may or may not have attempted to drive with the emergency break on, killed the car twice and heard "Doucement!" (French for "Gently!") from passengers in the backseat, but she passed and also received her license!