During our journey, about an hour and a half outside of Kampala, we encountered a serious mechanical problem with the car. I noticed the car acting a little funny and realized that I needed to pull over. However, in a split second after that realization, we heard a loud bang from the car and then immediately felt the back wheels lock up. We were going about 80-100 kilometers per hour (around 50-60 mph). Obviously, having the back wheels to lock up at such a high rate of speed was not good. The vehicle immediately went into a skid across the road. We slid for about 30 or 40 yards and did a complete 180 across the other lane of traffic (it was a two lane road). (You can see the tire marks on the road in the photo above.) By all accounts, the car should have flipped. In fact, in the moment, all of us in the car believed that the vehicle was going to flip. But somehow, we stayed upright and skidded to a stop only inches from a ditch on the other side of the road. Just a few more inches and the back tire would have slipped into the ditch and turned the car on its side. Fortunately, no cars were coming in the other direction during our skid. And even more fortunately, no one was walking along the side of the road (as is often the case in Uganda) as our vehicle skidded into the opposing lane. The car would have certainly struck any pedestrians. Had we or any other people been seriously injured, there would have been no ambulances, no good hospitals, and no good medical treatment in the vicinity.
We all felt a deep sense of gratitude and recognition of the Lord’s hand in protecting us. As someone later mentioned, the enemy was disappointed. He didn’t want us to reach Gulu. In fact, he didn’t want us to reach anywhere. But God had a purpose for us and would not let the enemy bring harm to the team.
We waited for several hours for someone to come from Kampala with another car for us to use. (Catharine, director of Hope Alive!, graciously allowed us to use her personal car for the rest of the trip.) Our mishap had occurred near a very small trading center on the main road. The local people showed concern and tried to help as much as possible, though they couldn’t do much. We met a young man named Henry who showed us a lot of kindness without asking for anything in return. (Oftentimes, Ugandans don’t have any qualms about asking white foreigners for money or other things because they think that we are all rich.) We learned that he was studying at a theology school in Gulu. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think we believed that perhaps God brought us in contact with Henry for a reason on that day. The team is pictured with Henry below.
Eventually, some other members of the staff arrived with Catharine’s car. We continued on our way to the North while they waited for a flatbed truck to arrive and take the disabled car back to Kampala. Upon investigation, it appears that the mechanical problem we encountered was due to a neglectful job performed by the previous mechanic who was working on the car. Praise God for protecting us!
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