Fetching Vincent

Thursday was an interesting day to say the least. It began innocently enough with a plan to visit Nyayo House in town to, hopefully, pick up Denise's entry permit (or work permit)...we knew the errand should take only a few minutes so we convinced the parking attendant to allow us to park behind some other cars in the car park (which holds only about 20 cars, maybe)...

First we were sent upstairs, being told it was still in process...but then we were shown 'proof' (a signature and a stamp) that the document was, indeed, downstairs. Back down we went to discover that the permit had been misfiled...that sounds like a bad thing, but God used it for good. As it turns out the man we are working with speaks the same language as William (Luo) and his father was greatly helped years ago by a man that William knew from his home town area. For this reason (actually by the grace of God) the man decided to help us out and opened the door for Denise to receive an Alien Registration Card instead of just a stamp in her passport. But - that meant obtaining passport sized photos then returning for finger printing and also taking time to pay a fee.

Well - all of that took MUCH longer than the 10 minutes we had originally anticipated. Needless to say, when we returned to the car park, we discovered that our vehicle had been towed away! Then we found out that the car we were blocking belonged to a Nairobi police officer...the attendant convinced him to wait for over an hour by insisting that we would be back within minutes...the officer became increasingly angry which facilitated a call to the police station and the vehicle being towed away.

So - we took a cab to the police station/impound yard where we had to apologize profusely for our gross negligence (all of this to avoid being put in a cell to wait for a court appearance)...the officer there graciously allowed us to leave after paying the 'breakdown' charge and receiving a stern warning - but not before Denise was 'detained' within a barricade of tables...that was our first trip to a police station! Sorry - no photos of this since my camera was locked in the car!

After a very long day we returned home, made dinner and were about to eat when William called his brother Vincent since it was rather late for him to be out alone (around 8pm) only to discover that Vincent had been picked up and was being detained at a police station in Kayole (not a nice place)...instead of dinner we travelled to the police station, which was an adventure in itself since we had no idea where it was. We picked up Peter (a police officer) at a police post nearby. He lead us to the Kayole station (which we would never have found on our own!)

We were able to see Vincent (they brought him out of the cell briefly) but were unable to take him home as no prisoners are released after 6pm. By the time we got home it was 10pm, but we could not be too upset since we were greeted by a hot supper and warm beds, neither of which were available to Vincent who sat up all night in a hot and stuffy cell. The next morning our first order of business was to 'fetch Vincent' hence the title of this blog entry. He was in decent shape, having lost only his belt.

Here he is in the back of the truck with his sister Tabitha after we left the police station. She is quite happy that he is safe - we know how worried she was all night. Fortunately we are all people of prayer and we believe that God was certainly present in that cell since we found out from Vincent that people were not only talking and telling stories, but also sharing the word of God with each other during the long night.

This photo was taken on the way to Kayole Friday morning. See the kokateni in front of that truck?...these guys are amazing - we see them all over town transporting almost anything from place to place - and risking their lives daily!

Here you see a picture of the town of Kayole...it looks innocent enough during the day, but I understand at night there are many gang members who hang out there at night. That is why there are regular 'round ups' like the one Vincent was caught in. He did nothing wrong and was actually heading home when he was picked up. He was not arrested and did not need to appear in court, which is why were able to get him out so quickly.

Here we are driving into the area of the police station. I decided to stop taking photos at this point, thinking it could become uncomfortable, at the very least and potentially dangerous, taking pictures of a government facility. After waiting a few minutes with all the other people there, William talked to one of the officers and determined the 'fine' would be 500 shillings (less than $10). We scrounged up the money, paid the 'fine' and Vincent was released.

We then requested a receipt, to which the officer replied "What does Vincent do?"...we let him know that Vincent is a student...that is when the officer decided that Vincent should not be fined and returned our money. Tabitha says she believes that the officers were convinced that the Mzungus (white people - that would be Denise and me) were there doing a report on police corruption...

We then dropped Vincent at a Caltex (petrol station) to catch a matatu (mini-van sized bus) back home to shower and change - were were amazed that he did not want to sleep all day. We dropped Tabitha a little farther up at a roundabout (what they have here instead of intersections) to catch a matatu into town where she was going to visit relatives...Vincent was to meet her there later. We then proceeded into town for our next adventure. Actually we went to Karen first (where many of the Mzungus live) to pick up money from GOI and for Denise to (finally) get her hair done. Watch for my next blog entry for the process to pick up a package in Nairobi!