Our Rafiki, we found out, was the
only one of the ten that had not been broken into. Neutralize the
guards, then rob everyone. In addition to the high rock wall, which
the others did not have, there was a security service that could be
called, if there was time. It consisted of a truck load of big men
with big sticks. Gun use was rare. Usually, only the military and the
police had guns. Yeen Lan said she could have gotten guns for the
guards, and could have had broken glass embedded on top of the wall,
as most rock compounds in Nairobi had. But she felt guns and glass
was just in violation of what we were about.
She did allow plants to be planted
inside the wall, with long sharp spikes on top. Jumping off the wall
inside in the dark could be a very painful experience. The houses
were virtually forts, complete with panic buttons.
The rock wall was possible because
Rafiki sat in the middle of a rock quarry. Workers used very heavy,
long pieces of re bar, sharpened on the end, to drill blasting holes
into the rock. Men punching holes in the rocks could last at that
about four years before being totally broken down. Life expectancy
was in the 40's. It totally amazed our kids that a man as old as me,
probably the oldest person they knew, could still run. Even play
Basketball. But my age didn't mean they took it easy on me when we played basketball. Once, I fell down. The game continued on, around and over me. I was on my own, getting out of the way.
Police often use instant justice.
If they pretty well had a robbery pinned on someone, a bullet in the
head greatly sped up the wheels of justice.
I got to noticing during the
afternoon play period that most of the kid's soccer balls and
basketballs they were playing with were partially deflated. I dug
around at school until I found a pump and inflation needle, and
headed out into the masses of kids. I started pumping up balls, and
the more I pumped up, the more balls they were showing up with. I
think they were running to the houses and digging them out from
everywhere. At long last, completely exhausted, I pumped the last
pump on the last ball. Within minutes, they started showing up for a
re-pump. Then I realized. Many of the trees in the compound were
thorn trees, and almost every ball had a hole in it.
Barbara found three bottles of
bubbles in an old chest in our guest house, and She took them out to
where the kids were. I've just got to tell this story in Barbara's
own words -
"Oh my goodness! I was more
popular than a rock star! It really was fun but somewhat taxing. I
got my reward when a little girl named Susan laughed at the bubbles.
It made my heart soar. Susan's mother was killed by her father when
she was in her mother's arms. She had been at Rafiki just more than a
year now, and she had not smiled once that first year. To see her
beautiful face light up was such a treasure!"
We were contacted by three women
we went on Safari with and invited to dinner at the home of the UN
attached lady who lives across town. They were all very nice women,
but we had to turn down the offer because it would have been too
complicated. The gate here is locked at night,
and the guards don't have a key. One of the missionaries has it at
his house. The director really didn't want us to go, but suggested
that if we did, we should hire a security company to take us, wait
for us, and bring us back. The missionary with the keys would need to
be waiting at the gate when the security company arrived, and open
the gate only on the signal from the car, so that it never stopped at
the gate. Most robberies occur when a car stops at a gate. That all
seemed like a bit much to just go to dinner. Besides, we hated to
disappoint the kids at the supper table.
Doug had been hijacked once when
stopping at the gate. These particular robbers had a gun, and the
gate guards didn't. They drove him around awhile, took all his stuff.
Trying to decide what to do with him, One robber asked him, "What
are you doing in Africa?" Doug told him he was a missionary, and
about his work. The robber said, "That's a very nice thing for
you to do." "Then why are you robbing me?" "The
need is very great." They finally let him go, minus the car and
all his stuff Because they had guns, the best guess was they were policemen.
During the violence, Yeen Lan had
100 mouths to feed, and they were running out of food. In addition
to the children, the national workers who were of the wrong tribe
stayed there also. Leaving would have meant death. Yeen Lan worried about the
situation, one morning at her desk. Looking out the window, the Mango
tree nearby was loaded with ripe fruit, a couple of month's early.
She sensed God was saying to her, "Oh you crazy woman of little
faith! I will provide." That spurred her to action. She called
the UN across town. Yes, they had food. No, they could not bring it.
The town was torn by violence. Sending the national workers for it
would have meant sure death. So far, they were not yet killing
whites. Doug and another White missionary Built a hidden compartment
in a station wagon. They had to cross town multiple times, passing
through roadblocks for both sides, to get the food back to Rafiki.
The food, in the hidden compartment, was not found. Doug told me that during the
violence, once a group of hundreds of warriors walked past the gate,
all making their war sounds. Not a fun time. A great fear during that time was
that a large group of tribesmen would come in and try to kill all the
children that belonged to the other tribe. The child's name often
gave away the tribe name. Remember Kip Keno, the great Kenyan
distance runner? Many children from his tribe were in our village.
They all carried the name "Kip."
That weekend, Yeen Lan had
arranged a trip for us to the Tanzania Rafiki, which lies at the foot
of Mount Kilimanjaro. This was a six hour trip by fast bus, which had
only about three stops. The slow bus, which most of the natives rode,
took two days, stopping at every village. At 6:30 AM we loaded on the
bus. Emily went with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment