Our driver's name was Gabriel. He is a very kind man, likely in his upper 50's or lower 60's. He drove us to and from the Junction Mall the day before. He speaks good English, and helped teach us some basic Swahili greetings and replies. We like Gabriel, and were happy that he was the one that came to pick us up from the Sarit Center.
Being that it was 4:15, the traffic was starting to pick up. We were at a stand still waiting to merge in with traffic on an intersecting road. As we sat there, a man approached the van from the rear passenger (left) side. I didn't see him until he looked into my window. He immediately moved back to the next window, which was where Stephanie was sitting. I quickly turned around and told Steph to put her arm over the bags that were sitting in the seat next to the open window. Luckily Stephanie had seen him coming and already had her arm securely over the bags. The man asked Steph for some money before moving further back to the Macy's open window. Macy knew he was there, but is used to people coming to the vehicles because it happens all the time in Rwanda. Unfortunately, the intentions of some are different than that of others.
It only took about a second. Macy, who was loading a Pez dispenser at the time, didn't even have time to react. All she said was "I think he took something."
"I think he took the Pez dispenser," Zach said.
Macy replied, "I think he may have taken my Phone!"
I said, "What? Did he take your phone or not?"
"I'm not sure," said Macy
Steph jumped in, "Macy, check and see!"
Gabriel was even asking, "Did he take her phone?"
Finally Macy said, "Yes, he took my phone! Do something, dad!"
Yep, Macy's iPhone, which had just been sitting on her lap, was now in the hands of a thief from Nairobi.
Before we could do anything, our driver was already hopping into action. He whipped the van around in the middle of traffic and was headed back up the road toward the thief.
"Which one is he?" he asked.
"That one with the black jacket," we all replied.
The thief was about 50 yards ahead. This part happened very fast as well. I was trying to think of what I should do... should I confront him? Should I jump out and tackle him? As it turns out, I didn't have to do anything.
The thief was walking down the right side of the road, so was on Gabriel's side of the van. As we were driving toward him we passed a couple of armed men in military uniform. I asked Gabriel if we should tell them what had happened, but Gabriel said nothing. We were about 15 yards from the thief, and my adrenaline was pumping full stream. As we approached the thief, I was still thinking about what to do. We came up along side him, then, without warning, Gabriel swerved in front of him, hitting him with the front drivers side of the van. Simultaneously, as the thief was starting to stumble backwards, Gabriel grabbed him by the front of the jacket. The thief started to fall down, the look of shock written all over his face. Gabriel pulled the thief back to his feet and, saying something in Swahili, hit the thief in the face several times. As I watched the events unfold, all I could hear was Stephanie not so calmly telling the kids to look away. The thief quickly pulled the phone from his pocket and threw it back in the van. Gabriel gave the thief a few more blows to the face, saying the word "stupid" every time he hit him. The thief must have still been in shock, because he didn't fight back. He didn't try to protect his face. He didn't really say anything until after Gabriel let him go. The thief walked backward down the sidewalk, calmly saying something in Swahili. About that time, 3 security guards came out of a gate in front of us to check out what was going on. Gabriel calmly turned the van back around and headed back to the intersection where all the madness started. By this time, all the windows in the van, except for mine and Gabriel's, were closed tight.
After the incident, Gabriel said that Nairobi is often called "Nairobbery" because of incidents like this. We were also informed later that the place where this happened is often called "iPhone Circle" because this type of petty theft, particularly of iPhones, happens here so frequently.
We were warned of this very thing by a few different people, including my brother who has spent time in Nairobi. Before we came here the first time, I passed this warning on to the rest of the family. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes an incident like this for the warning to sink in. I'm actually happy that this happened. Steph and I have been worried that Macy might let her guard down and become complacent, not because she's not smart, but because she, like most kids her age, is a "nothing bad will happen" teenager. As it is, this was a very eye opening and scary ordeal for her, which I feel will help her keep her guard up in the future.
In the end, all turned out well. We got Macy's phone back and, more importantly, we weren't hurt in the process. We were sure to let the kids know that things could have ended up very different. What if the thief ran? What if he turned off the road he was on? What if he had a gun...?
So, was this a situation that God put us in to teach Macy and the rest of us a valuable lesson? Was Angel Gabriel sent to protect us and ensure that we got the phone back? We all think without a shadow of doubt that the answer is "yes".
There are a lot of bad people doing bad things to good people in this world that others can look at and say "why would God let that happen?" In Iraq, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya... even in the United States of America. But, there are a lot of good things as well that demonstrate God's love for us. We will never know how many times God protects us and others in this world without us even being aware of it.
T.D. Jakes put that so perfectly into words when he said "I have always believed that people who thank God only for delivering them from what happened are just scraping the surface of praise. The real praise comes when you start thanking Him for what could have happened but didn't because of His swift grace!"My prayer today is to give thanks to God for protecting us that day, but I also thank Him for the constant protection He provides to all of us even when we aren't aware of it.
God is good.
