So it happened. A couple of weeks ago Carson was on his way to get some chocolate bars so that we could make smores later on that night. He had just slowed to a stop, to wait on oncoming traffic to pass before he turned, and WHAM!!! A pikipiki(motorcycle) slammed into his driver side door, then flew into the other lane. He jumped out of the car and ran over to the two guys on the bike. One was standing up and the other was laying over the bike and bleeding a good bit. 30-40 Tanzanians crowded around them, screaming and shouting, and grabbed the bleeding guy to put him into the bed of a truck.
Luckily they were right in front of the office of our Swahili teachers and they had heard the accident. Two of them came out and while one waited with the truck, the other teacher went with Carson and the man to the hospital. It turned out that he had just bit his lip pretty bad, and a few stitches later he was in better shape.
That day he had to leave the truck with the police so they could inspect it and the bike. He went the next day and settled everything, but not without a few hiccups.
The guys on the bike lied from the beginning. They lied about how fast they were going. They got the cop at the scene (their friend) to lie about where the bike had ended up so it would look like they weren't going so fast. They lied about who was driving the bike. It was frustrating, and I wasn't even there. But Carson McNeal has more compassion than I can imagine in those sort of circumstances. He was worried sick because he knew how important the bike must be to those guys and that they probably couldn't afford to fix it. I kept telling him that it was their own fault, but that logic doesn't stand it's ground in the face of compassion.
When Carson went back the next day with one of the teachers to sort everything out he found out that the guys were Christians. Obviously they weren't acting like it, but Carson was determined to. There wasn't exactly an obvious solution. The guys were continuing to lie because they wanted Carson to pay for their bike. Our teacher suggested that they all go to the store and find out how much the parts would cost so they would at least know what exactly they were arguing over. After hearing the prices Carson decided to offer to pay for the bike parts if the guys would go back to the police station and tell the truth. He told them that being able to have a truthful relationship with them was more important than the money. They agreed to tell the truth and went back to the police station. Carson also gave them a little money for the hospital bill because he wanted to.
Wrecks are something that you know will happen over here sooner or later. We are extremely thankful that everyone was ok and also that our teachers were nearby and able to help. It's difficult in that sort of situation to figure out what is appropriate in the Tanzanian culture and at the same time doesn't conflict with what Jesus taught. If some part of this doesn't make sense it's probably due to some cultural aspect that I've gotten used to so I'm not explaining it well. But in the end every one was okay and God was glorified!
