March Madness
The week started with one of our teammates being illegally evicted from their rental house by the city council (the house was a city government house until a few years ago, when it was sold to a Tanzanian citizen). About 30 city guards, plus the fire department with jaws of life to cut through locks and bars, and a lorry truck, arrived early in the morning, with no warning, to clear all the contents out of the house. Lovely.
Since our affected coworkers were in route to nairobi, and out of cell phone range, the rest of us had our work cut out for us, as we tried to keep the guards occupied with "safe" jobs while we ransacked the place looking for valuables and safeguarding fragile items. We also tore out anything valuable we could, like the kitchen cabinets.
The week ended with a couple teammates jumping into a frenzied mob beating and preparing to stone a 12 year old boy (who had stolen around $5) to death. Literally. Common treatment for a defenseless thief. Thankfully, the prayers of the nearby wives were effective, and the crowd set aside their stones, and returned home with their mallots.
(photo of a cast aside stone)
This is not a normal week here, but there is no normal week here.
On a more positive note, the first friday of the month is a highlight for us here. The larger missionary community, working in diverse ways including orphanages, bible translation work, rural development, theological training, etc. gathers for fellowship, worship, and prayer.
If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of broken things here. It is refreshing to be part of something that represents what is being restored.
The week started with one of our teammates being illegally evicted from their rental house by the city council (the house was a city government house until a few years ago, when it was sold to a Tanzanian citizen). About 30 city guards, plus the fire department with jaws of life to cut through locks and bars, and a lorry truck, arrived early in the morning, with no warning, to clear all the contents out of the house. Lovely.
Since our affected coworkers were in route to nairobi, and out of cell phone range, the rest of us had our work cut out for us, as we tried to keep the guards occupied with "safe" jobs while we ransacked the place looking for valuables and safeguarding fragile items. We also tore out anything valuable we could, like the kitchen cabinets.
The week ended with a couple teammates jumping into a frenzied mob beating and preparing to stone a 12 year old boy (who had stolen around $5) to death. Literally. Common treatment for a defenseless thief. Thankfully, the prayers of the nearby wives were effective, and the crowd set aside their stones, and returned home with their mallots.
(photo of a cast aside stone)
This is not a normal week here, but there is no normal week here.
On a more positive note, the first friday of the month is a highlight for us here. The larger missionary community, working in diverse ways including orphanages, bible translation work, rural development, theological training, etc. gathers for fellowship, worship, and prayer.
If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of broken things here. It is refreshing to be part of something that represents what is being restored.
Labels: corruption, mob justice
posted by Kevin at 11:25 AM
3 Comments:
Wow! All I can say, as always, is that I am praying for all of you in Mwanza.
After catching up on how far behind I had gotten in reading your blog, I was anxiously awaiting an update (on the house and the traffic violations). I was sorry to hear such difficult news. You guys have been in prayers quite a bit more in the last day or so--you and your team.
Kevin, give Charity a big fat hug from me, okay!
DUDE!!! What a week. It is hard to imagine, but totally believable.
I hope you are well. I am so happy you are there. I know that God is using you in restoration as He brings all things under one head. We love you all.
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