Saturday, February 20, 2010

Panga Protection

We recently had a flat on the hiway between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma. It's hard to find a "shoulder" or "pulling off" place , but this time, we were fortunate to find a little side road where we pulled over to change the tire. The area was a little isolated and not visible from the road. We have heard stories of people getting robbed, so I was already imagining all sorts of things.
Ed started to work immediately......just the way you would expect him to do.
I could hear voices of men in the bushes and could hear the the word "wazungu" (white people) used. Then.........it got REAL quiet. And I got REAL scared. Ed just kept working.

So, I decided if he was going to be in a vulnerable position of changing the tire, I would protect us....by golly.
So, I pulled out our trusty panga, unsheathed it and laid it in plain sight on the seat of the truck and stood close by. This should scare those thieves.

Shortly, 4 men appeared out of the bushes. All of them so drunk they could hardly stand up. Taking all this into consideration, I am pumped to defend us with my panga if called to do so.
The men stood (I mean swayed) around and watched Ed, trying to help, and then eventually stumbled back into the bush.
So, now the tire is changed and Ed walks around to his side of the truck and sees the panga.
"What's this for?", he says.
"To protect us", I say.
He just rolled his eyes, re-sheathed the panga, and replaced it under the seat of the truck.....to protect us another day.
I love my panga.
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