CHRISTMAS EVE

BECOMING ONE OF THOSE STORIES – When visitors come to Kenya we always do some sort of orientation, words of advice etc etc, and usually cover some sort of security info. Sat round the dinner table with friends the issue of security comes up a lot, we talk about stories we have heard, ‘I heard the other day a guy was car jacked near...., did you hear about that house that was robbed the other week....’ its not like its in every conversation but it can come up quite a bit. Then on trips back to the UK or talking with friends I relay those stories on to people, almost in the vain hope that perhaps it sounds quite cool and a little bit dangerous working in Kenya, living on the edge you know and all that. But despite the stories, and as much as I have tried to take care of myself and those of the people with me I guess I never truely believed I would become one of those stories myself...
It was Christmas eve, a frenetic time organising Christmas for the kids at Cheryl’s, greeting visitors, organising volunteers. I was tired, excited, overwhelmed and rushing around like a mad man. At 4pm I offered to drop a volunteer off at The Junction (a shopping centre) and 2 of our girls (aged 15 and 17) who were helping house sit Samuels house while he was up country. Both the girls and the volunteer needed to be at the places by 4:30pm. I needed to fill more soda crates for Christmas day as I had only filled the ones from my house earlier in the day because the ones at Cheryls had been locked in a room and Rose had the key but was out at the time. I normally fill crates near my house at a wholesaler but didn’t have time to go there. We rushed into Dagoretti Corner where I knew of another wholesaler, thinking lets get this done on the way to dropping off the girls. We went into Corner but the wholesaler was shut... time was ticking on, I went round to a kiosk i knew and tried there. They had crates but were selling at 100ksh extra per crate and that meant an extra £3:50 in total. Knowing I could definitely get them cheaper at my house even though it was a hassle going back there I decided lets not pay more than we have to. The kiosk lady said there was another wholesaler near by we could try there, almost over the road from where Cheryls is. We wizzed round to the place and found it. Its virtually on the main road, next to a few tin shack house. There was a small entrance with a corrugated iron gate and about a 30metre track to the Coca Cola containers where they sell. The way my car had been facing I decided it was easier to just reverse in and then I could unload the crates. The drive way was only big enough for one car. Just as I had arrived at the gate there were 3 men walking into the depot, i asked if this was the depot and they confirmed, one of them kindly offered to open the gate fully so I could get in. I reversed up the drive and got out, there were some staff around and other shoppers buying sodas. I open the back of the car and started to unload crates. I had put 2 crates on the floor and then it all kicked off.
The next 60 seconds has taken some time to piece together in my mind but I think I have finally got it. As I was about to unload the 3rd crate I looked up and saw a guy take a gun out of is jeans, for a moment I puzzled thinking ‘why does a guy have a gun and why has he taken it out and unlocked it ready etc...?’. Instinct must have kicked in because I don’t quite remember but i must have shut the boot door leaving 2 crates still inside my car and I headed to the drivers seat. Just before I could get in another guy grabbed me and twisted me round. I had my wallet in my back pocket ready to be used to pay for the sodas, he went to grab it and at first I tried to stop him, again instinct took over and my left hand quickly moved to my left pocket knowing my phone was in there and trying to prevent him taking it. As we struggled he yelled over to the guy holding the gun, who was moving it from pointing at me to pointing at the coca cola people by the containers. He yelled ‘Shoot him, Shoot him.... shoot shoot’ as I struggled with him. Realising what he was saying I released and he emptied the pockets. I resisted again him taking my inhaler and office keys almost arguing ‘wait whats the point, they are worthless’. The keys fell to the floor and at that point he left me to walk round the other side of the car. I turned and looked at the gate at the bottom of the drive. One door was closed but the other opened. The gate was not bolted into the ground and didn;t look too strong. Some how I don’t know but I still had my car keys, I think they were in my hand and the guy had not tried to get them. I heard them arguing with the volunteer on the other side of the car as they were trying to grab her bag and she was trying to get them to just leave the camera with the photos. I climbed into the drivers seat, with the pure determination we were getting out of there, the guy had left me for a few seconds and this was our chance. I started the engine, tried to rev the engine to make sure we didn’t stall, and I looked again at the gate and put my foot down. We raced down the short drive and with the bull bar on the car we blasted through the gate onto the dirt road getting to the main road. We raced onto Ngong road and I could hear the 2 girls in the back of the car upset, crying, shaking, I put my foot down and had one arm behind trying to comfort them. We quickly turned left and within about 30 seconds from leaving the depot we were back at the gates at Cheryls, I was banging on the car horn. The gates opened and we rushed in, everyone surprised I was back and confused with all the fuss etc. I opened the car door and got the girls out to hold them and to find people to come and be with them.
I was shaking, confused, felt like crying, angry, I paced around thinking what to do. My phone had all my contacts, I thought I had lost my keys and couldn;t get into my office, but eventually I found them in my car, I must have picked them off the floor when the guy dropped them, but don’t remember doing so. I got onto skype in the office and found the number of my sisters work trying to get hold of her but she was out. Then I realised i could cancel my cards myself using the skype phone. Eventually things calmed, the volunteers took taxis home rather than walk. The girls calmed and settled and I eventually left back to my house and then over to David and Juliets on the other side of the city which was the original plan for a Christmas eve meal.

THE AFTERMATH – Its been a strange few days, most of the time I have just felt sad, not sure why but just that feeling of depressed. On Christmas day we went to the police station to report and get an abstract for records, but knowing telling the police was a wait of time in terms of solving it. They had heard about the robbery from the coca cola people and were not surprised to hear from us. The rest of the day was spent with the kids and running Christmas. I’ll update the blog in the next week or so with all the Christmas chat, but for now I just need to write about this. The next morning I went to church early to do the worship and then over the David and Juliets who were having about 16 people over for a boxing day lunch etc. Everyone there was shocked at what happened and were trying to comfort me. In a way I hadn;t believed when the guy had said shoot shoot that he actually would. But as we shared stories of other cases i realised I was very lucky he didn;t. Often these guys are all drugged up and high, and with all the adrenaline people get shot in these situations. One guy was car jacked near the safari park, and while asking for the gunners to leave him with 100ksh to get a taxi they shot him in the stomach because they thought he was messing with them. Obviously as I wasn’t working so much it has given me more time to think and consider everything. Although I had heard the stories I still have had in my mind, that ‘ hey I’m white what can they do, too big a risk to hurt a white guy’, but that arrogance is just foolishness. People who have nothing to loose, who are probably high don’t care about that. Because of that at times since I felt like a fool. I questioned if I took too many risks and what if I had just gone to the wholesaler near my house, what if I had just paid the extra £3:50 what if I had been able to get the crates earlier in the day, what if I hadn;t been rushing round like an idiot would I have been more aware???? I felt guilty. But then I though what if I hadn;t reversed in, would I have driven away as I would have been facing tthe shooter while trying to revers, if we hadn;t reversed in I wouldn;t have driven away and escaped. So as much as I question my earlier decisions there were others that perhaps helped us. On reflection I don’t think we did anything majorly wrong, the guys had already walked into the depot to rob it, when we drove in it was simply a bonus for them and bad luck for us... literally wrong place at wrong time.
So now... I’m a bit more nervous, still very sad and still need to process. I need to review security at Cheryls and review my own security. The odds are slim of ending up in these situations but that doesn’t matter any more for me because it has happened. The odds of it happening twice are very slim... people have said well ok, you’ve had your one.. thats it, you came away unhurt, passengers were unhurt. But if I think too much like that I’ll relax and end up being arrogant that I’m untouchable now which would be foolish. As a guy I replay the situation over and over and feel should I have done more, could I have taken the guy robbing me down etc, but as its been pointed out to me most guys go through this feeling and again feel guilty they were not macho enough, but apparently all the security experts say the best thing a guy can do is to give up, hand over what they want and you stand the best chance of protecting the people with you. Goes against your instincts but if you feel as a guy you should protect the ones your with then just surrender. I guess this makes sense. Now I need to be strong, but I’m finding it hard to focus, hard to find energy to do anything, I’m exhausted and seem to have lost motivation. But i know this won’t last, I’ll come through it, I’ll be stronger for it, I’ll be more alert now and will be praying hard this never happens again. I am now one of those stories that people will tell, I’ll be that guy the was robbed at coca cola that got away with his life, his car and most importantly hsi passengers. I don’t want to be this story, its not cool, its not glamorous and I hate that its happened. But that’s it.