The Trip Home

That last night in Niamey, Andy started running a fever again, and we had no aspirin left. The next morning he was miserable, but we had to get going. We checked out of the campground, I dropped off my tent and a couple of bags at the German guy's place. Then we went to the place of monsieur le dirécteur. He was expecting us, and soon we took off to the airport in his nice, new Peugeot. At this point Andy was a mess, shivering, holding his head. But we had to hurry to make our flight.

We got to the little Niamey airport and got in line to check in for the Air Algérie flight. We both felt like shit - feverish with a splitting headache. When it was finally our turn, the guy at the check-in counter looked at us and said that our tickets were not valid. Andy and I panicked: "What do you mean - NOT VALID?" We were sick as dogs and ready to jump over the desk. But the dirécteur took charge at this point. He got out his wallet, took two crisp $10 bills and stuck them into our tickets. Then he handed them back to the guy at the counter and asked him to "double-check" whether our tickets were OK. All of a sudden they checked out just fine! We checked our bags and got our boarding passes. As we walked away, we thanked him and got our wallets to reimburse him. But he insisted that we keep our money. "Next time, back in Europe," he said, "when you see an African who is in a difficult situation, maybe you can help my brother, and reimburse me that way."

Finally, it was time to say "good-bye" to our friend, and to board the plane. The first thing we did after we sat down, was to ask the attendant for some aspirin. They were very helpful, and got us our aspirin and some water. The plane took off and we flew right into a tropical thunderstorm. The plane was bouncing like crazy, lightning bolts flashed all around us. This was my first flight ever, and I remember thinking, "Wow - I had no idea how bouncy plane-rides are." Finally, the weather calmed down and eventually we got some lunch. I remember the food being actually pretty good and the attendants being quite generous with the wine. It was quite amazing to fly over the Sahara, after crossing the desert on land. The planes fly rather low, and so a lot of features of the desert are clearly visible.

In Algiers we had a couple of hours layover, until we got on the connecting flight to Marseille, France. The Algiers - Marseille route is just a quick hop across the Mediterranean Sea. When we got to Marseille, Andy and went to the train station and got on a train back to Germany. It took all night, and we got to the German border the next morning. But Andy got off at the last station before the border. He was still wanted by the German military police, and wanted to avoid the border checkpoint. He was from a town close to the border in Germany, so he was really only a few miles from home. He ended up hitch-hiking right to the border and walking across into Germany. Then he called his ex-girlfriend from a phone booth, and she came and picked him up.

I continued on the train, crossed into Germany, and arrived in Stuttgart later that day.

A few days later, I had another Malaria attack and checked into the hospital. After a battery of tests, they treated me with Fansidar and I got better. I got a job at a Mercedes-Benz (now DaimlerChrysler) factory in Untertürkheim, checking crankshafts for defects. In January 1991, I had enough money again, and I returned to Togo.