In a previous blog, Carolyn shared the overwhelming feeling of driving in Dar. Our friends experienced a crisis a few days ago as they were driving at night here in Dar es Salaam. This incredible story is not just about what happened to them, but more importantly, how they chose to respond to the crisis We appreciate them (thank you, Dan!) for allowing us to share this guest post with you. Please read--and let us know, what would you have done?
Tonight we were in a car accident. First let me say everyone is fine, our whole family was in the car and we're all ok, no harm done. We went to a couple's house on the peninsula for dinner and left to drive home at about 8:30. That means it had been dark for about an hour and a half or so. I dislike driving in the dark. I really have no problems with it during the day, but night is a whole different experience and one that I don't generally enjoy.
We were driving home and I came to a red light. This doesn't always mean what you think it would. In Dar (and Tanzania in general from what I've seen of it) a red light is a suggestion that you should stop if there is no traffic crossing or the car in front of you has stopped. In tonight's case I stopped at the red light because there were cars turning directly in front of me and to run through it was to invite destruction. So I was being careful and I stopped. ( For those who know the area it was the light before Mwenge market going north.) I came to a full and complete stop and about five seconds later a taxi slammed into the back of our car. There was a loud boom and we were all pressed firmly back into our seats. It was startling and unexpected.
Stacy called for Adah and she made a babbling noise that didn't sound particularly injurious so then she yelled for Micah to see if he was ok. He didn't respond and I was immediately terrified and yelled a bit louder and more forcefully for him to respond and he said he was ok. I think he was just scared and startled at first. Bernadette was also with us and she was fine too. Once this was all determined I put on my hazard lights and we looked around out the windows. It is not always good to get out of your vehicle at an accident scene as there is often a mob. It was similar in this case as a group of men were walking around the cars. Within half a minute we saw a police officer (Mr. Mensa) walk over and I went to talk to him. He was speaking to the driver of the taxi and I told him that was my car and pointed at the one with the big dent in the back of it. He nodded and said, “Please move it over there,” pointing to the corner out of the center of the road.
I moved the car and he got in the taxi and they parked nearby. As all of this was going on there was a steady and heavy stream of traffic driving around us. The police officer got out of the car and was physically holding a young guy and moving him around towards another car. Apparently there had been another accident at the same time where this young guy hat hit another car behind me somewhere. I didn't know the details and the driver who was hit was pretty mad and yelling in Swahili, none of which I understood. After a few minutes they settled something and the cop looked at me. I said that's my car over there and that I was stopped at the red light and the taxi ran into me. I said we should go look at the damage.
We stood there looking at the large dent in the back of my car as he talked to the taxi driver. The man was obviously poor and had three children standing next to him. I doubt they were his, I think they were just borrowed from the crowd, but who's to know? The police officer made his report, I wish I had taken a picture of it but I was too hyped up on adrenaline to think to do it. Basically he had a clipboard with a blank sheet of white paper, upon which he drew the road with arrows for the direction of traffic and a rectangle for my car and one for the guy behind me with an x at the back of mine where the damage was. He then asked me what happened and I told him I had stopped at the light, which was red and there was traffic crossing in front of me so I couldn't go forward and I was hit from behind. He nodded and noted some things down in swahili on his paper. He then took some of my information including my name, phone number, job ( missionary), religion (he guessed Christian correctly) and a few other things that escape my memory.
The police officer said, “This man is obviously poor, he has no money, what do you want me to do?”
I said, “I have no idea, what can I do?”
He said, “You can take him to court and I can take him to jail or not.”
I said, “One moment please,” and I went and got the keys and unlocked the back of the van to try to open it. It of course was caved in over the locking mechanism and did not open. This made it so that it really does have to be repaired. Just a dent I could live with but I need to be able to get into the back of the van. I then went and told Stacy what he had said and she wisely said I should call Dwight. Dwight is awesome, he knows a lot has lived here for a long time and has a lot of experience on how things work here, so I took her advice and gave him a call. He told me my options and I thanked him and went back to the cop. I told the cop I thought it would cost almost 200,000 shillings to fix the car and if the driver could do that then I'd be fine with it and we could let it go. He told me that the man didn't have the money that he couldn't pay but that I could take him to court if I wanted to. I considered my options and went and talked to Stacy again.
I said, “This guy is poor and the hassle of going to court and trying to get money out of him doesn't seem like a good idea. I say we just eat the cost of repairs and go home.”
She agreed and I went back tot he police officer. I told him, “Here's what I would like to do. I would like for you to tell the man to drive more carefully. Then please tell him I will be praying for him and that I wish him well. We are done here as far as I'm concerned.”
The police man was very kind and offered his phone number and name so that if I have any other problems I can call him and he would do his best to help. I thanked him and we drove the way home. As we were pulling back into traffic Micah asked, ”Did the policeman ask you for supper?” I grinned and said, “No man, not this time,” and we drove the rest of the way home uneventfully.
I hate to say it but I think this was inevitable. Driving in Dar is inherently dangerous and driving at night is more so. In this case there was nothing I could have done to have been more careful beyond not being on the road at all. Hopefully I will be able to get the car fixed this week. We have insurance but there is a deductible we'll have to meet first which it would have been nice to have gotten from the other driver but wasn't really realistic given that I wanted to get home before tomorrow. Hopefully this won't ever happen again, but if it does I can only pray that it is as minor as this.
