This might be a little long, but I promise it's good for at least a hearty laugh!
This morning we headed out before the sun had even risen. We were going to Jinja to pick up our "new" car. It takes a while to get to Jinja (about 2 hours from the capital) and even longer if you don't beat the traffic, which is why we left so early. The plan worked. The roads were completely clear and we made it to Jinja just after 8 am.
Since we were going to Jinja anyway, I had the additional plan of stopping at a place called The Source Cafe. I had heard from a friend that they sell a special cookbook in their gift shop. This cookbook is special because it was compiled by many missionaries who have served in East Africa. The recipes generally use items that can be purchased here. I contacted them on Facebook yesterday and learned that they were opening at 8am.
When we called the mechanic in Jinja, he said he knew right where The Source was and it was within 2-3 minutes from him. When we arrived in Jinja, we found it easily. We called the mechanic and he said he'd just meet us there. It worked out perfectly because we were able to sit down and order breakfast while we waited. Then he joined us and had some coffee. We discussed all the details of the vehicle and he took Floyd outside to look at it. By then our meal was served and I had already found the cookbook. Yay!
Here's a pic of the kids choosing their breakfast, and the cookbook!
So the day had started off well and everything was going as planned. We headed back to Kampala; Floyd driving our car, following behind Pastor Johnson. Remember that Floyd is learning to drive on the left side of the road, in the right side of the vehicle, it's an automatic with the stick on the left side of the driver, and he's having to follow Pastor Johnson to not get lost. Everything was going very well! Floyd was doing a great job and it seemed that we would be back before mid-day, which was our hope. We had plenty of other things to get done.
Now, we'd been warned about "mob justice" many times, and told to never get out of the car if we have an accident, but Floyd was already out of the car. He was explaining to them that our friend (Pastor Johnson) was parking and would be there to help momentarily. I wanted to get a picture of the crowd, but that didn't seem intelligent. You can see the closeness of a few people in the picture of the tire. Keep in mind that we are also now blocking traffic because the car is in the middle of the road with no wheel. The kids and I were told to stay in the car. Pastor Johnson had a mechanic friend nearby, so he came with a tow truck. He was also able to come to an agreeable settlement for the boda driver and the wounded man. He talked with them and made the agreement, as we would have no idea what is right. This was reasonable and nothing more than we would have done for anyone in the US, had our vehicle had a similar situation.
This morning we headed out before the sun had even risen. We were going to Jinja to pick up our "new" car. It takes a while to get to Jinja (about 2 hours from the capital) and even longer if you don't beat the traffic, which is why we left so early. The plan worked. The roads were completely clear and we made it to Jinja just after 8 am.
Since we were going to Jinja anyway, I had the additional plan of stopping at a place called The Source Cafe. I had heard from a friend that they sell a special cookbook in their gift shop. This cookbook is special because it was compiled by many missionaries who have served in East Africa. The recipes generally use items that can be purchased here. I contacted them on Facebook yesterday and learned that they were opening at 8am.
When we called the mechanic in Jinja, he said he knew right where The Source was and it was within 2-3 minutes from him. When we arrived in Jinja, we found it easily. We called the mechanic and he said he'd just meet us there. It worked out perfectly because we were able to sit down and order breakfast while we waited. Then he joined us and had some coffee. We discussed all the details of the vehicle and he took Floyd outside to look at it. By then our meal was served and I had already found the cookbook. Yay!
Here's a pic of the kids choosing their breakfast, and the cookbook!
So the day had started off well and everything was going as planned. We headed back to Kampala; Floyd driving our car, following behind Pastor Johnson. Remember that Floyd is learning to drive on the left side of the road, in the right side of the vehicle, it's an automatic with the stick on the left side of the driver, and he's having to follow Pastor Johnson to not get lost. Everything was going very well! Floyd was doing a great job and it seemed that we would be back before mid-day, which was our hope. We had plenty of other things to get done.
Now, at this time, imagine that you are in a small town, no one speaks your language, and it's just before noon on the main road. There were cars and bodas everywhere. Suddenly, we hear an awful noise. It really sounded like we had hit something or had driven one tire into a hole. Oddly enough, we didn't feel anything, we just heard an awful sound. Then a second sound, as if we were dragging something. We are looking around frantically, but see nothing. Suddenly, Floyd says, "did we lose a tire?"
Of course, I'm thinking, "how can that be...we felt nothing...and how does one lose a tire?"
He had stopped the car at this point, so I opened my door to look out and, sure enough, the tire was completely gone. Literally, we were driving down that road and the tire flew off. I thought that sort of thing only happened in movies! All of the passers by (and you can imagine there are A LOT of people walking the roads in any Ugandan town) are looking at us with all sorts of faces. They are laughing and wondering what just happened.
Floyd got out of the car and men were surrounding him. I called Pastor Johnson's cell phone because he had gotten quite ahead of us. As Floyd was surrounded by men, some speaking a little English, we just had to wait for Pastor Johnson to get back. The crowd grew larger and we got more nervous because we learned that when the tire flew off it had hit a boda boda and a man. They took Floyd to the tire and he rolled it back to the car. Of course, the boda driver and the mildly injured man were immediately asking for retribution. The man's leg had a cut but we weren't sure of any damage on the boda.
Now, we'd been warned about "mob justice" many times, and told to never get out of the car if we have an accident, but Floyd was already out of the car. He was explaining to them that our friend (Pastor Johnson) was parking and would be there to help momentarily. I wanted to get a picture of the crowd, but that didn't seem intelligent. You can see the closeness of a few people in the picture of the tire. Keep in mind that we are also now blocking traffic because the car is in the middle of the road with no wheel. The kids and I were told to stay in the car. Pastor Johnson had a mechanic friend nearby, so he came with a tow truck. He was also able to come to an agreeable settlement for the boda driver and the wounded man. He talked with them and made the agreement, as we would have no idea what is right. This was reasonable and nothing more than we would have done for anyone in the US, had our vehicle had a similar situation.
After quite some time of blocking traffic, the tow truck arrived and we headed to the shop. I forgot to mention that we did call the mechanic from whom we bought the vehicle. He was totally surprised and wants to take care of the costs incurred. This in itself is quite a blessing because it would not be customary here in Uganda. We are glad to have been referred to an honest, godly man to get us a car because otherwise, we would have just been on our own. He was going to send us his wife's car to use until our's is repaired, but we assured him that would not be necessary.
Fortunately, the car is already repaired. Apparently the lugs and lug nuts were too short for this type of car. The lug nuts were screwed on, but only going through the first few threads. After enough wear and pressure, the lugs literally just broke off. We had all the lugs on both back tires replaced, and all the lug nuts on the vehicle replaced with longer ones. I thought we'd be sharing a pic of our new car, introducing her in a more simple way. But such is life. We're thinking about naming her Bertha, as you can see she is quite a beast. :)
How's that for a fun day of adventure? You can read Floyd's version of the story here.
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| Just for fun, here's a pic I snapped of the kids waiting in the backseat. I think their facial expressions say just what they were feeling. Raegan just sat there reading a book, while Troy and Tyler were just hot and wanted out of the car. :) |
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