This week one of our Managers had an accident on the main street in the town. As I drove the school bus home with all the children in it, we came accross a large crowd of people on the main street, and this is what it turned out to be. The manager was a Tanzanian, which is probably very fortunate, and he phoned the workshop manager to ask him to come and join him. The Facilities Manager who was driving our MAF pickup is actually the first person that we would call for help if one of us were involved in an accident or some incident with the police (but that's another story).

When I saw it was a MAF vehicle I stopped to see if someone was hurt or if I could help in any way. The unlucky Facilities Manager told me briefly what had happened; that there had been a pikipiki (motorbike) coming flying down the road, as he was crossing in the pickup. He told me he stopped the pickup, but the pikipiki did not have time (or perhaps brakes ?) to stop and had crashed into him after he'd stopped (there were no skid marks on the road!). Unfortunately for the poor rider this is his second accident on his pikipiki, and the second time to break the same leg. Alas, nothing is to be done by the police, until they hear how he is doing in the hospital. We have heard that when they find out how he is, they will then know whether to prosecute the MAF manager with careless driving or the pikipiki driver with speeding/careless driving. Apparently it depends on his progress - as to what happened in the accident. Our manager went straight to the police station with his friend from MAF and filled in many forms. He was allowed to go home, but had to return the next day, when he was eventually released on bail. However, to do that, his friend had to pay some money and produce his own house deeds. What a to do! We were told that had MAF been mentioned, then the bail money would have been higher, and extra costs incurred. As it was, the family decided to press charges, on hearing about MAF. Unfortunately, when people hear that you are western here or work for westerners (the colour of your skin can cause many problems too), costs always go up. They seem to believe that if you are white or come from the west then you must have lots of money and can afford to pay extra costs.

I was told later that often people are lynched for causing some kind of accident, so it was a blessing that this didn't happen. We need to continually remember to ask Him for guidance and protection on the roads.