Truck Mama

“My family was shocked when they found out that I'm driving,” says Eva, a Kenyan woman, as she sits behind the wheel of a truck, heavily pregnant. She botched up her school years and was the only one in her family not to graduate. Pretty foolish, she admits in hindsight, but now she is glad to have chosen a profession she can be proud of. She sees more of the world than her brothers and sisters do.

Two years after the birth of her second child, she returns to the road, even though it’s sometimes a struggle for her to combine single parenthood with her work. The nanny is not always reliable. During the long drives, she keeps in touch with her son by mobile phone.

A combination of observational scenes and cinémavérité creates a multifaceted portrait of the vivacious Eva and a nuanced picture of the emotional dilemmas faced by many economically independent women. When her truck breaks down during a dangerous journey from Kenya to Sudan, Eva needs all the strength she can muster and is even forced to rethink her future.