Life in Africa: Dangerous Situation

Hello everyone and welcome back to "A missionary's tale..." or, I should say, "A missionary's adventures".
Today it was one of those days when you get home and you're all emotional.

After doing the funeral for one of our children at the Feeding Center 😭 we were heading home only to get into this potentially very dangerous situation.

In the morning, the taxi drivers were protesting against a rule by the City Counsel to move the place where they can wait for customers. As we approached Zomba, I saw some large stones in the middle of the road. Thinking the protest is over by now - it was after 4:00 PM after all - I decided to proceed. Long story short, a car behind me panicked, passed me and a few more vehicles only to do a quick U turn at the top of a small hill. At that point I knew something was happening up there and decided to turn back, only to realize they’ve blocked the road behind me as well. Me and a few more vehicles were trapped. Fortunately enough, there was a small dirt road to the left, THE ONLY large enough for vehicles. I took it but people were shouting, telling me the bridge on the way to town has been destroyed as well.

The protesters were upset about the rules that affect them so, in order to make a point, some destroy everything they can. A foreigner in a vehicle is a good target as, in some of their minds, any such incident may cause an international outrage - thus bringing attention to their grievances.

Let me add this: Malawian people are very peaceful, Malawi is known as “the warm heart of Africa” for a reason. At the same time, many people suffer and some get frustrated because life is tough here , so incidents that everyone may regret can happen. I also should add that most people demonstrating are peaceful, but there are always those few thugs that take advantage of the commotion.

The main road would’ve taken us home in about 5 minutes from the point in this incident. Instead, I had to take that forced detour, so to avoid the dangerous spots. It took me more than 1 hour, driving in places I’ve never been before, on some awful roads.

I'm grateful I got home safe and sound but this is just another example of why one needs to be vigilant and asses the situation every time. It can literally make the difference between arriving home safe or not.

Thank you for watching and see you on the next video.