The car was a special one as it was a Land cruiser fully equipped with double transceivers on both HF and VHF. It was essentially a mobile command centre ready to go to any emergency and with stickers all over so it could not be mistaken for any other car. It was also equipped with a winch to be able to get out of bad situations in mud.
In those days it was common that expats were allowed to take the official vehicles home over night as it was the only way to properly disburse the cars, thus minimizing the risk of theft and potential terror attacks during the night. It was easy to throw a grenade into our office compound in Kampala and immediately take out 10 or more vehicles.
Me and Frode, another of my colleagues were heading out for some fun as it was weekend. His girlfriend had also joined in for the trip down to Haandi for dinner. From there we would then find our way to the local night scene.
When heading back we took the normal route. In Kampala streetlights are a luxury we keep dreaming of thus all the roads are treacherous. Partly because of all the potholes, which can reach enormous proportions as the road repairs leave a lot to desire in most parts of town. Well the pothole is one problem but the way people seem to avoid them is by driving completely around them rather than taking a visual stock of how to negotiate the hole while still getting it under the centre of the car. I have probably done thousands of maneuvers to avoid cars with drivers who simply focus on the hole rather than looking at oncoming traffic!
The other threat is the potential for robbery or accidents during the night.
We turned up on the very steep hill and as usual we drove with the full “Hella” lights turned on. We had them installed both on the roof and in front on the bull bar. On both sides of this road there was a very deep ditch, just about a meter in depth and about 1 meter wide. This was to ensure the rainwater would not carry away the road during the heavy rains we normally experience.
To our amazement there was a car standing with the back wheels up in the air and the nose down in the ditch. Both front wheels were in the ditch. Me and Frode looked at each other and by the sign on his face he was thinking the same as me.. “Lets get to work and help these guys out.”
We thought that, with the winch and the strength in our car this would be a piece of cake. It was an elderly couple and they were very scared even though no one was injured. There was no damage to the car in general so to us it looked like they had driven slowly or tried to do a u-turn.. Making a u-turn in hat area would be a crazy thing to do but we have seen worse happen many times.
We tried to find a space to hook up the car but we could see that it was an old car with rust in all the bad places so we had to make sure we got it right or the couple would probably start chasing after us for wrecking their car.
While we were trying to get light in the right spots and get the cable around one of the local guys, who saw our car parked with full headlights, joined in. We told him we did not need any help as we had it under control. The old couple did not speak too much English and the guy started talking to the couple and was waiving his arms in different directions. Sometimes hovering over us with out commenting anything to us. But then back to the old couple waiving his arms and continuing to talk in one of the local languages.
Somehow we managed to fix the wire in 3 points and then started pulling. We adjusted one of the wires and then managed to get the car out unharmed. The old couple were very happy and thankful. We rolled in the cable and jumped in to our car waving goodbye to the couple. Frode’s girlfriend then said.
– What are you not going to charge them some money?!
Again me and Frode looked at each other and burst out laughing. – What do you mean charging?! we both countered in tune as if we had rehearsed the timing.
– but ofcourse they have to pay you guys for helping them.
We countered that, back home in Scandinavia if someone is in trouble it is just common courtesy to help out and anyone would help and would think none of it. The girl looked completely lost at that time and we laughed again. For us it was just a nice thing to do and as usual we always looked at situations to see if we could find a solution to a challenge.
– but….. the girl countered again – The guy who was talking to the couple and waiving his arms…
– yeah ?!
– Well he got 10,000 Ughs from the couple.
– What do you mean he got money ?!
– Well I heard him telling the old couple that as we knew nothing on how to pull out cars he would take control of the situation and tell us what to do.and thus supervise the situation so their car would get safely out of the ditch.
– What!!!?? are you sure.
– Yes that is what he told them and I saw that they gave him the money.
We b0th looked puzzled but then we concluded- Well this is crazy Kampala…
We did the job and another guy got 4 beers out of it 🙂