Sense of Security

The thought of moving to Africa originally worried me. The general impression of lawlessness was overwhelming, especially the thought of bringing my wife here (and one who works in the Kibera slum!).

After several weeks without incident, it was easy to begin relaxing into our new home. We have guards at our apartment complex, barred windows and a huge steel gate on our door. We feel safe.

That is until we have one of those conversations that brings us back to reality. Friends and coworkers sharing stories about recent car-jackings, muggings and break-ins always puts me back on my toes. 

Yesterday evening, Lydia and I had one of those conversations with missionary friends who live nearby. We found out about a man who had four teenagers pull semi-auto rifles on him as he was pulling into his home at 9:30pm. The group took him to an ATM to withdraw the maximum daily amount. They then forced him deep into the slum and waited until midnight in order to withdraw the next day's limit. Thankfully he was released, but this often isn't the case. Sometimes they kill the victim so as to not be identified. Which begs the question: cooperate or fight/flee?

I have gone through several of these cycles of being lulled into a sense of security and then shocked by stories of violent attacks in our area. Another shock to my system is the tragic mishaps that are all too common here.  

On Wednesday, a huge supermarket went up into flames after a power surge started a small fire that spread to cooking gas canisters stored indoors which began exploding. After evacuating what the manager thought was everyone, the doors were locked to keep looters out of the store. The Red Cross has yet to set a final death toll from those accidentally locked inside, but the last count was 25 bodies recovered. Nairobi's four fire trucks were unable to do much good because the nearby fire hydrant didn't work leaving the closest one a mile away. The Kenyan Air Force and private fire engines (yes you have to hire a fire truck here) were only able to control it many hours later.

We just heard news of a petrol truck exploding in the Rift Valley killing at least 111 people.  It had overturned and people ran up to collect the spilling gas just before it caught fire and exploded.  Unfortunately, this isn't the first time this scenario has played out in Kenya. This morning, our church spent time praying for the family members of the victims of these two horrible accidents and for a general redemption of the country. One can only imagine how desperate a person would be to risk their life to gather several dollars worth of fuel to sell.