This story actually took place a while back. To be exact, it was on Thursday, August 25th, 2011 (my fifth day in Kenya). The reason for my delay, is I figured my parents might freak out, especially if they read about it over the internet, instead of from me directly. But, since then, I have told them, and I figured it was a good story I should share with the rest of you.
Now, this was during the time that Ben and I were taking Kiswahili lessons in Nairobi, and had spent the last half week trying to figure out the best way to get from the guest house to the language school. On Wednesday, we thought we had figured out the best option. Originally when had been told to take two buses. One to down town and then another to the school. However, going all the way to down town was quite out of the way. So, one of our tutors told us we could be dropped off early by the first bus, and it would just be a short walk the rest of the way. This is the route we used on Wednesday, and we thought it worked quite well, so we thought we had found our route.
Now comes Thursday. The morning went well without any problems. But then, in the afternoon, as we approached the place where we were dropped off that morning and got on the bus the day before, we noticed that there was nobody there, when it had been quite busy previously. We did not think much of it however, since we were actually going home a little early. So, we waited on the corner and waived down a bus when we saw it approaching. The bus began to slow down, and come to the side of the road. Then, before it stopped, it suddenly sped up and turned back into the middle of the road. As Ben and I turned to look at each other in confusion, we were both grabbed from behind.
As we tried to resist, four people in civilian clothes dragged the two of us toward an unmarked pick up with canvas over the bed, parked on the shoulder of the road. They quickly flashed us ID cards on lanyards around their necks and said we were under arrest. Thinking quickly, Ben told the one commanding the others we wanted to talk to the Embassy. In response, the man simply said, "no Embassy". At this point, the only thought going through my mind was, "Oh crap". They eventually got us to the pick up and pushed us in the back. The bed was already full of about 7 or 8 Kenyans in civilian clothes, and two armed guards near the opening to the bed. Now, to be clear, when I say armed guards, I mean they each had a semi-automatic weapon. It's been a while, and I don't know guns very well to begin with, so I don't know exactly what they were, but they were something like an AK-47. After we were in the pick up, it started driving off.
Up until this point, we had not been told exactly what we were being arrested for. Therefore, we tried to find out from the other Kenyans who had been arrested what was going on, but none of them seemed to know any better. We noticed that a couple of them were using their phones. Luckily, I had been given a phone by this point (Ben had not been given one yet, so thankfully we were together). Ben suggested I call Ron and Martha (our Country Representatives). With the guards sitting right next to me, I was a little wary of doing anything without permission, so I asked to see if it was ok. They just gave me blank stares. I decided to risk it, since others were using theirs.
I called Ron and explained our predicament. He immediately said he wanted to speak to the person in charge. So, Ben and I began asking for the person in charge. Throughout this time, the vehicle kept driving for about 2 or 3 minutes, and the stopping at random points. The guards and the people that grabbed us would hang around the back of the pick up when we were stopped, but they all just told us the person in charge was at the front, and would not let us talk to them. I stayed on the phone with Ron and kept him updated on our location. During this time, he kept repeating two things. First, "I want to talk to the person in charge" and second, "I don't like this". This was because other than the guards, nobody was wearing uniforms, and we had only gotten to see their ID's for a split second, so in our paranoid and adrenaline high state, we worried that they may not be police.
Eventually, the other people who had been arrested guessed that our arrest was because the location where we had tried to get a bus was not actually a bus stop. This was news to Ben and I, since we had always seen a large number of people waiting there to grab a bus. After about twenty minutes of driving short distances with long pauses in between, the other "criminals" suggested to Ben (he was sitting closer to them than me) that we try to bribe them. As Ben was suggesting this to me, the men who had arrested us said we could get out. They said we were free to go, but told us that that was not a bus stop and warned us never to try to get a bus their again.
As they drove off, we realized that Ben and I were the only ones released. This was a little confusing, and we felt bad for the others, but there was nothing we could do. We told Ron and Martha where we were and they came and picked us up. On talking with them, we determined that they probably were just looking for bribes. Apparently it is very common for people to be arrested, just so the police officer can receive a bribe, because if you refuse to pay, they often just let you go. This is because they don't want to deal with the paper work of an actual arrest. Therefore, it was kind of lucky that Ben and I were so new, because we had never thought of a bribe before it was suggested towards the very end. But, if we had thought of it earlier, we probably would have tried to pay it.
In the end, we were still a little confused why we were let off when we were. The only explanation we could think of, was that since I was staying on the phone with someone and kept asking for the person in charge, they were worried that we were some Whites with powerful connections. I have no idea if this is true, but I kind of hope so, because I think it would be pretty funny.
So, that was the most memorably experience of my first week in Kenya. Since then, I have not been arrested again, and hopefully I will make it the rest of my term without another incident.
