Prison Break

Have you ever seriously considered breaking someone out of prison? Have you ever seen injustice right in front of you but been helpless?

Well these have been my thoughts the last few days. As I posted last time, one of our staff, Oliver, was in a car accident. He lost control over a rough spot and put it on its side. Traveling with him was a woman and her baby. Neither Oliver, nor the baby were injured but the woman sustained a head wound and was taken to the hospital, while Oliver was taken to prison though he shouldn’t have been. It is a little hard to describe how it works here but if you are in a car accident the driver goes to prison until any injured are released from the hospital or it can go to court. However, that is only if someone is hit or there is another car involved, not with one vehicle. So we were all confused in this case as Oliver was taken but no one outside the car was hurt, it was simply an accident in an Samaritan's Purse vehicle.

So he was taken Saturday night, and we were told to come back in the morning to get him out. Now, this is not a nice jail cell, it is very crowded, no light, no bathroom (you use the corner of the cell) – sort of what you might imagine over here. So on Sunday several of our staff went to help get him. However, they met one road block after another and were told to come back on Monday. On Monday, this happened again and they were told to come back Tuesday. Monday night we went to take him food and found that they had moved him to the prison (as oppose to the jail). The prison was actually a little nicer because during the day they could go outside but it closes at 5pm. At any rate, the police had told us that if the family of the injured agreed for Oliver to be released he could be. However, one of the issues was the husband, the woman was married but the husband had not paid the full dowry (usually many cows over here) so she was not officially his wife, therefore only the father of the girl could say whether it was okay to release Oliver.

Tuesday, we went to get the father from the bush (deep off the main road). This took several hours, then it was off to the police station to get Oliver released. We were a little concerned how the family might react but the father in particular was very understanding and really wanted to see Oliver go free. From about 12 until 6:30, this is where I was with a few of our staff. How to describe what took place…mostly it was a lot of waiting around, getting this signature, meeting this guy or that guy, or going to someone’s house to get him to sign and then more waiting, Just when we thought we were close, they told us they needed the husband now, luckily he was at the hospital not far away. By this time it was about 4:45 – why do I know this? Well we were also told that the prison closes at 5pm and will not open. It seemed as if they wanted to harass us all day and not let him out just to spite us. One of the guys slowly, painfully slow took a signed piece of paper at 4:58 to this other guy who we thought was the end. Well, 5pm came and went – we feared we had lost the battle but we were not going to leave without a fight. So we kept on, working the system trying to find the right people. There were many times during the day when I wanted to ring someone’s neck but this probably would not have been a good move on my part. Well to end this story, they did reopen the prison and we did get Oliver out at around 6:30. Wow, was he happy to get out. He thought he was in for another night. Tomorrow we will roast a goat for him. Our vehicle will stay with the police until the woman recovers but she is expected to be fine.

Thank you for those who prayed. It is only by His grace and mercy that we had victory today. You never know what tomorrow may bring, hunger, prison, death – enjoy today while you can, live today, love today. Let your light shine in the darkness that those around you may see the hope you have found in our risen Lord.