Stories behind the scenes…

These images say it all. Children born to fight. Fully armed with machine guns, dressed in Rambo T-shirts, ready to kill!

"The Gun Run"

A convey of hundreds of trucks and tanks through the infamous Tete Corridor, a 263-km road. From Tanzania to Zimbabwe through Mozambique, the scene of a holocaust of devastation during its long-running civil war. This was one of the most active war zones in the world!

The convoy went through once a week, and it was pretty much accepted wisdom that everyone who took the trip was either desperate, nuts, or uninformed. We fell under the nuts category .

What had once been a road was now an obstacle course of blown-up trucks and swimming-pool sized landmind potholes.

Looking back, I'm not quite sure what prompted us to take such a huge risk. I guess, once again, Africa was all about adventure and living life on the edge with no fear and total faith in knowing that everything would be alright.

We lined up a driver of a truck who wanted to make a bit of extra cash, and we were off at first light the next morning.

We spent the night sleeping on the back of the truck. It was freezing, and little sleep was had. In the morning, we were greeted by local kids selling oranges and the hustle and bustle of everyone getting ready to venture into the war zone.

We had purposefully chosen a truck that was in the middle of the convey in case a landmine was hit. A tank was on either side for extra protection.

There were many convoys that had been hijacked by RENAMO rebels, half of whom were heavily-armed children, with no direction and no restraint. A scary combo!

One particular part of the journey, the driver informed us that if shooting broke out, don't run, but rather get out of the truck, hide behind the back wheels, and stay there until it stopped . At this point, everything seemed to move in slow motion... watching and waiting. Our nerves were fried.

We had one safe stop where the children begged for food, and Rambo T's gathered with curiosity.

We were the lucky ones, making it to Zimbabwe late that evening. We slept in a shack at the border, exhausted & blessed!

Who were we to complain about anything?