Just after lunchtime they started off, a small convoy of two vehicles, one a massive 40 Tonne truck followed by the second, the Smile Malawi Landcruiser. They had a long journey ahead, some 800 miles, carrying their precious load of 30 tonnes of maize, food desperately needed in the little village of Ndokota in the south of Malawi. Although food was scarce everywhere in Malawi, this load had been specially bought in Tanzania by Smile Malawi to help the local people around the Smile Malawi Childrens Centre in Ndokota. Founder Elspeth Baecke had got to know the children in the village and could not ignore their plight during the current famine.

Fortunately, Smile Malawi trustee Glad Munthali not only lives near the Tanzanian border, where maize was still available, but also owns a haulage business and is used to organising food runs to the South to relieve the shortage there.

After a phone call from Elspeth in England, Glad was off to the border in the VX, which he takes care of in her absence. His truck driver met him there with the big truck to collect the maize. All sounds quite simple now but, without Glad and his family in the South, it would not have happened. For that matter, without the Landcruiser, it would not have happened! The VX is like a passport in Malawi; it holds respect and the driver is allowed through road blocks and police checks with ease. Diplomats drive them, rich business men drive them and Smile Malawi trustees drive one, thanks to Atkins Rail!

By late in the evening the convoy had made good progress so Glad left the truck and sped on through the night, arriving at the village early the next day to make preparations for the distribution of the maize. The road to the village was virtually impassable from heavy rains but the 4 x 4 Landcruiser negotiated it with ease. The people gathered in their hundreds as soon as they heard what was coming and everyone waited patiently for its arrival.

The big truck had to stay on the main road about 4 km away so Glad went to and fro in the VX organising the offloading into a smaller truck to deliver to the village.

By afternoon everyone had received their share, about 40 kg each, enough to keep the families alive for up to 6 weeks. There was no trouble, even after it started raining heavily, and the people went home to their little mud huts happily carrying their sacks of food. The children smiled and laughed and the mothers shed tears of relief.

As darkness fell, the Landcruiser departed to get ready for its next official task of meeting Elspeth at the airport ten days later.