Car Accident

One of the toughest things we have had to deal with over the last two weeks was a car accident. George was stopped on one of the main roads waiting to turn when he was slammed from behind by a matatu that was racing another matatu. A matatu is a 13 passenger van used for public transportation. They are they cheapest and most commonly used form of transportation for the average person here. Usually they are packed with people, way over the capacity. On one ride we were on, there were 27 people shoved in there. It did not make for a comfortable ride, especially since I was very pregnant with Eli at the time. Fortunately, the accident happened at night when the matatu had only one person plus the driver in it. The impact was so huge that the matatu was totaled. Our car had a damaged rear bumper, rear tail light and smashed side of the car, near the back. We are so thankful for our strong car. It really protected George from serious injury and further damage to the car. George came out of it with a sore back, neck and lingering headache.

As if the trauma of the accident wasn't enough, a lot of drama happened after. First, the driver of the matatu fled. Later when the police showed up, he returned, but told a bunch of lies saying the accident was George's fault. However, there were over 20 witnesses that supported George. The accident occurred were there were many taxis and the drivers saw it all. Second, the driver was overheard attempting to bribe the police. This is a common occurrence. Many times whoever is the highest bidder gets the police report in their favor. As a foreigner, George was susceptible to unfair proceedings. Since the accident occurred at night, the police told everyone to take the cars to the police station and return in the morning for the investigation and final findings.

The next morning, George went back with all of our documents (insurance, registration, etc) and spent all day at the police station. This time, the driver had a different story, accusing George of bribing the police (something we would never do), as it looked like he would be found at fault. His exact words were “there is no justice for the poor man.” Which was hurtful because we are advocates for people in need and we (and he) knew he was lying. The owner of the matatu showed up and it was determined he had fake insurance. He announced that since he had no insurance and his car was a total loss, he would not be paying for our repairs. He fired the driver and said if we wanted our repairs to be paid, we would have to go after the driver. Why the police didn't hold the owner accountable for lack of insurance, we don't understand.

The police told George the only way to proceed was to arrest the driver and take him to court to cover our damages. At this point, the driver's wife showed up, crying, begging George for mercy. Her husband had lost his job and they could not afford to pay for him to be in jail or for our car to be fixed. She (and the driver now) begged George to forgive him and let him be released from prosecution and liability. What was George to do? This was a very poor man, struggling to support his family. Now he lost his job. Even if we went forward with the court case, there was nothing to get from him. He would sit in jail until his family could pay the debt. Yes, it was his fault, but after prayer, George decided to let them go. We can only pray and hope that this will be a lesson in forgiveness and making wise decisions (no reckless driving) for the driver. It was a lesson for us as well. We did nothing wrong and now we had to deal with the aftermath of his mistakes. After he said hurtful things, letting him go was hard. However, we felt it was right to leave justice in God's hands. It took me a few days to process it all and deal with those emotions.

So, we were left with a smashed car. The good thing about fixing a car in Tanzania is it can be done very cheaply. A Few to several hundred vs several thousand in the US. They are very skilled at repairing parts instead of replacing them. Now we have our car back, but the unexpected cost of fixing it really hurt. (Plus, the day after our car was done being fixed, the battery died and we had to replace it. Man, it seems like it's always something!) However, we are very aware it could have been worse. We are praising the Lord for keeping George safe and that no one was seriously injured. We have to believe He has a reason for allowing this to happen.