Another Vehicle Situation Update...Aug 6

Just a quick update here for those of you who are following our car situation:

Over the weekend, I talked with a friend of mine here who strongly recommended that Roger contact the US Embassy in Nairobi to let them know what was going on and to get advice from them.  It seems they have departments that are there for this very purpose – to help American citizens who find themselves in questionable situations like this.  We found out some very interesting things.  First of all, they told us to under no circumstance turn our vehicle over to the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) rather, they are supposed to be helping us investigate the problem and fix the problem.  Second, we have been advised that they cannot impound the vehicle unless it is proven to be illegal.  In our case, there is nothing yet that proves our vehicle is the one with the problem.  It might be, but we don’t have (and they don’t have) proof of that yet.  If there are two log books, and two license plates, we need an investigation done to see which one is legitimate.  No vehicle has been reported stole, no license plate has been reported stolen – it’s possible the other guy could have died or the car could have been totaled at some point and isn’t even in existence anymore.  Anyway, more investigation needs to be done before anyone can know for sure whether or not our car is illegal. The embassy gave us some things to say to the CID and some things to ask them to do for us.  Obviously, if we find the car has been registered illegally (which would actually mean it’s not registered at all), then we need to make the car legal and we don’t know yet if they will impound it during the time we’re trying to work it out.  We should find out more about that tomorrow after Roger goes to Eldoret again – IF it turns out the vehicle is not legal.

So, next time Roger goes in to talk with the CID, he’ll probably take our new lawyer with us, and this information from the Embassy, so the CID will know we’ve been in communication with our Embassy. 

We also found out something else interesting.  The police are not supposed to arrest an American citizen without proof of a crime.  The lady Roger spoke with at the Embassy today said that a lot of times, the police will arrest an American citizen for supposedly speeding.  For those of you who have kept up with our blog, that will sound familiar J    She even mentioned the town Roger was arrested in for just that very thing (he wasn’t speeding, by the way).  If that happens, the American citizen is supposed to call the Embassy immediately.  The Embassy will call the head of the police station and say, “Uh, what are you doing…?”  and the police station will say, “Just a moment please.”  Then they will come back on the phone a few minutes later and say, “That person has been released,” and the Embassy will say, “Thank you very much.”  Too bad we didn’t know that before!  But we know it now.

So, please continue to pray for our situation.

On a lighter note…we’ve been borrowing a car from some friends of mine.  It is a very small, white, hard-top Jeep kind of vehicle with two doors.  Before I tell you the funny, let me say how extremely thankful we are for this vehicle.  Without it, we’d really be hurting.  Because of its size and color, our friends affectionately call it “The Marshmallow,” so that is what we also call it.  Two more pieces of background information on The Marshmallow – it has no shocks.  I mean – ZERO.  Nothing.  Nada.  Imagine 4-wheeling in the mud over very bumpy roads – washboard roads with 2 foot deep gorges running through them in places – in a small Jeep like thing with no shocks.  BUT…it has a high ceiling on the inside.  Okay, so our family went to town to eat dinner tonight and when the kids (all 3 of them) started piling into the back of the car to go home Josiah said, “You know one of the good things about this car?  When Mom is driving and she misses a speed bump, we won’t hit our heads on the ceiling of the car!”  All three children burst out laughing. Thanks, guys, for that vote of confidence.  Yes, that has happened – he speaks from experience J.