Prison Break - Take 2

Well, some days are better then others!

After writing my last blog entry on Tuesday, I was so happy that I would not have to be revisiting the traffic police any time soon. But as it would happen, Wednesday morning I received a call from one of our sites that he (Kevin, a missionary kid from Kansas) had an accident and that there were multiple injuries. So off I went in the wild, it was about a 2 hour drive to the place he was – I started off at about 9:30am. The basics of the accident were that he was coming around a sharp corner and a motorcycle was suddenly in front of him. He applied the brakes but the bike was in his lane and he could not stop on the sandy soil. There were two people on the bike, the driver broke his leg, arm and maybe some ribs, while the passenger broke his arm. We used the vehicle I was moving in to transport the injured to the hospital in Yei, while I went with Kevin to the police station. We spent time there taking statements and reviewing what happened. They then gave us a choice to either head back to Yei or head on to Juba to have the case heard. I was really hoping to settle this up there but no such luck and I really did not want to face the guys in Yei again but since we have no base in Juba, we headed back. Three soldiers accompanied us in the back (we had to pay for their nights stay and transportation back) - I got them good with a couple of mud puddles though. By the time we reached Yei it was around 5:30pm. So, we go into the traffic police office to tell them what happened. The first 20 minutes was yelling at me for hating the Sudanese people, for not liking black people, just one thing after another. I tried to sit silently not saying anything as whatever I said just further irritated this person. So then we go the hospital to see the wounded, then back to the station, then some more yelling and the writing of statements. Now fortunately for Kevin, they do treat those of us from the west a bit differently. They arranged for Kevin to be held at the UN police office and not in the Sudanese one. Kevin was ready if he had to but was very grateful he didn’t. The UN was really nice to us and very supportive. So by the time we did all this is was around 9:30pm, I hadn’t eaten all day and I was a bit tired but at least Kevin was safe and relatively comfortable; and the injured were in a hospital. However, I found out later that no doctors came to see them because a different patient’s relative had beat the doctors and nurses the day before when a patient had died.

For Kevin, the reason they said they were having him stay at under protection was because of the way things work around here and because of some very difficult circumstances. First, it turned out that the person hit on the bike was just coming from his brother’s funeral. His brother, if you can believe this, was killed three days earlier on the same corner while driving a motorcycle. When this happened the people of the village burned the vehicle that hit the motorcycle and threatened to kill the driver – praise the Lord this did not happen to Kevin. The second reason for the protection was that the driver was part of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). They have also been known to take revenge when one of their own is hurt.

So, in the morning I first worked for Kevin’s release. The family insisted that the injured go to Uganda for treatment because no one at the hospital was treating them. Although the accident was not Kevin’s fault we agreed to pay for all medical bills. So to keep the peace, we hired a car to transport them and sent them with one of our staff down to Uganda. While the car was being hired, I met with the traffic police and the relatives of the family. I wrote up several things and worked with the family to agree that Kevin could be released into Samaritan's Purse custody until the case could be heard. So off to the judge (with the traffic police guy who hated me – actually though he asked how my morning was) we went to have him agree. The judge neither spoke nor looked at me but he did agree to let Kevin go with us – this was Fantastic. So by 12:30pm I had Kevin back at the compound. Next I needed to work on the vehicle. Of course this is the second vehicle we have there in police custody and this one had very little damage; we really needed this back to be able to do our work. So for the next 5 hours I worked on this. We again went to the judge, signed more papers, this and that, here and there. But praise the Lord, I did return with the vehicle by 5:30pm. Small victories, but victories non the less. I hope not to visit that place for some time, although I still need the other vehicle.

Some prayer requests around all of this.

We have serious vehicle issues. Many of our vehicles are broken down, our mechanic has malaria and one car is still in police custody. Please pray that our vehicles are protected and can be repaired quickly. Please pray that these two cases are resolved quickly and the injured are healed; neither one will be finished until the injured are better - in Kevin’s case this could take a while. It definitely feels like we are in a spiritual battle over here.

I am thankful that both Kevin and Oliver are safe and back here with us. These were some long days but the Lord has been faithful and we will keep moving forward.