LOOK OUT! CRASH!!!
Yep, you guessed it. After weeks of dodging cars, buses, semis, Tuk Tuk, Makatahs, and people, we finally had an accident. It was a fender-bumper bender with a 
school van in the usual late afternoon rush. So, there we were for the next 3 hours, tying the bus' fender back on with rope, feeding candy to the little kids in it, calling Church accident coordinators, and negotiating with the bus driver. Traffic rushed by, some smiling at us silly white people, while we worried about getting creamed by some other vehicle while working on the bus. And, where in the world were the police? They never came. That worried us a bit, because Corwin & Peggy knew a missionary couple 
who had gone to jail for leaving the scene of an accident...and, a young missionary who had been jailed for going asleep in court and another who had been jailed for his cell phone going off in traffic court! And, the fact is that, whoever is in fault, it's, nevertheless, usually blamed on the foreigners. No wrecker came, no cop, and there we all sat in the middle of rushing traffic for hours, hoping that no one else piled into us. We couldn't leave the vehicles and, besides, there was nowhere on the side of the road to even walk to. It was pretty frightening. Corwin was very skillful leading the roping back on of the bus' bumper. It reminded me of Jared's work keeping their car together in Grenada!
Well, it finally ended with our negotiating with the driver for a settlement. We gave him 700 shillings (about $80) and got out of there. I was pretty amazed at that as I estimated the damage to his bumper, grill, and fender was probably around $2-3000 at home. But, it seemed to be his fault and he knew that and said his insurance company would not pay for anything less than $10,000. There was very little damage to our big truck with a huge bumper guard, which made us realize how grateful we were to the Church for providing missionary couples big, 4 wheel drive to drive in the bush and especially as protection in wild busy city traffic. Our final call to the Church ok'ed the deal, so we moved on it and finally got on our way. WHEW! ...and, HOORAY!!! Now, off to the next great adventure, while we are still alive and kicking!
Peggy continues on as our great navigator. Corwin is the amazing driver, braking and shifting and turning like an Indianapolis Speedway driver, only he is facing much more difficult traffic. Lawana and I just sit in the back seat hoping and praying that God will continue to protect his missionaries. And, somehow He does!
Corwin & Peggy say Nairobi has changed a lot since they were first here when there was only one traffic light. Now, there are a few, but still much piled up traffic, especially in the round-abouts and at Makatu pickup places, which are everywhere. There were no ATM's in 2003, like there are now, complete with guards and machine guns (they even have that in the markets and large stores.!)
It's an interesting cosmopolitan mix of rich and poor with the wealthy and modern definitely proud of their comparative wealth, which has lots of American features in clothes, music, etc., while still clinging to their African culture, too. Some of the more well-to-do Africans seem a little uncomfortable with their western clothes and ways...like they are trying to act and wear them properly, but not quite sure how to do it. But, they are all very proud of President Obama's Kenyan heritage and hoping that Africa will benefit from it.
Well, we are all exhausted from a very stressful day, so better hit the hay. We love you all.
Dick and Lawana
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