What to do when arrested in South Africa
Yes. Yes. It is true. My whole team was arrested while in South Africa this past weekend. But, before I tell you how we were arrested, let me back up and tell you where we were and how we got there. Friday afternoon the ministry we are here helping with planned a survival camp in a village 4 hours away from where we live. To enter the village, we had to pay an entrance fee to the Chief of the village and also bring him a bottle of rum. Yep, that’s how it works here in Africa. Because we run on African time here (meaning everything happens 2 hours after they were originally planned) we got to the campsite later than expected and the sunset came quickly.
In the dark, we climbed over large rocks and across the beach to find where we can set up camp. Sweet little local children helped me set up my tent in the dark. I was the first white person they had ever seen. As I finished setting up my tent I could feel them walk by me and quickly brush my hair with their hands. I stopped what I was doing and let them touch my hair. They went wild. It was the cutest thing. They would hold a bundle of my hair and put it on their head as if it were their own. Then they would laugh hysterically. What a great night.
The next morning we hiked to a beautiful reserve. It was about a 40min hike up hill and across more scary big rocks. We followed the path the locals take every day to fetch water. I had my first water fetching experience later that night. I can’t believe women do this every day. They walk almost 3 miles a day to get water and then carry a 35pound bucket on their head back to their home. I struggled bringing the water back. HOW THE HECK DO YOU CARRY 35 POUNDS OF WATER WHEN YOU ARE CLIMBING A MOUNTIAN AND GIANT ROCKS?? Seriously, I’m in good shape, but it was so hard. Anyway, back to being arrested, we got to the reserve with the children and played for a few hours. Our host went up to ask the reserve operators a question about the reserve. Turns out, we accidentally trespassed. The park rangers told Solomon all 50 of us were arrested and gave him a sheet that read 50 people arrested. It looked like such a joke, but out of respect, we left the beach.
This “arrest” is how things work here in Africa. The government can be so chill, it can be bribed or it can be strict for no reason. You never know what you’re going to get. Luckily, nothing bad happened and we were able to create a fun environment for the children to camp outside of the reservation. It was a great weekend. We played worship songs at night around the camp fire and got to know the students on a deeper level.
Moral of the story… If you get arrested in South Africa… Don’t take it seriously. There government is so corrupt that you can bribe your way out.
After this weekend my team reminisced and all came to an agreement that we felt like these students have become like family to us. Many of them have come to us and told us that we have had a big impact in their lives. This blows my mind because we have only been here for a few days. I can’t wait to see what will happen in the upcoming weeks.
