Yesterday was our day off. We had enjoyed a lovely lunch at a local café and were late heading back to pick Zac up from a friend's house. We stopped at the only traffic light in Arusha, behind a safari vehicle that had been driving quite erratically and slowly prior to pulling up at the lights.
I knew the pattern of changes, saw the right hand signal finally turn amber and, with a modicum of cheek, pulled around the hesitant vehicle as our light turned green.
Half a kilometer down the road, having dodged a reckless daladala (taxi van) bearing down on us on our side of the road, a cluster of policemen pulled us over. I'm used to police checks, they happen a lot around here, but this time as I slowed I saw one of them writing down my number and thought, "This isn't good!"
A polite but firm officer, informed me that I had gone through a red light and he would need to accompany us to to the downtown police station where, he said, I would be shown proof of my crime that had been recorded by their "traffic" camera. (Traffic camera? That was new... tho a good idea given the lights, as far as the locals are concerned, are more a suggestion than a law!)
I protested passionately, knowing I wasn't guilty given I'd been behind the other car, and desperately wanting to avoid what I knew would be a very lengthy delay.
"I'm a pastor and I can promise you that i did not go through the red light!" said I, with Judi strongly chiming in in support.
The officer got in the back saying, "Don't worry, even I need proof as I did not see it - I'm under orders so we must go and we will see the evidence". So off we headed.
When we got to the station, the office took down all our particulars, gave us the option of paying up front or waiting "a few minutes" for the evidence to arrive. We opted to wait and were invited to go and sit in a senior officer's office, seeing "we were not guilty of murder or such like!"
Just over an hour later, the cameraman arrived and we were led into another office to watch the footage. The office filled up with other officers and onlookers, excited about the new technology and keen to watch the wazungus (whites) view their own crime first hand!
The TV didn't work, so after a few minutes, a senior officer told the operator to just show us on the camera screen. As it turned out, we weren't being busted for a red light, but pulling into the other lane to pass.
I apologized, to which they all chimed, "NO SORRY!" which they must be trained to say when they are charging someone.
A very amused, older policeman in civvies (a Man Utd jacket to be exact), proceeded to explain the offence. I, in turn, explained that, being a foreigner and not having been given a copy of the road rules, had been ignorant and could they could consider this a warning.
The cameraman, excited that he'd successfully nabbed us, objected - "You have broken the law.. you must be fined!"
The older man laughed and said, "You are warned, you are free to go" and gave me a high-five! The cameraman looked like he was about to cry while the rest politely shook our hands as we left.
We were so very relieved and thankful for the prayers of our friends whom we'd called up in the meantime.
What's interesting is that in the last two weeks I've been talking with others, including a former senior cop/now pastor, about starting a fellowship/support group for the police dept. here in Arusha. I now have some contacts!
God works in mysterious ways... eh?
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