Jail-bird

I am glad that it is Sunday and the start of a new week! Last week had some rather discouraging moments. On Sunday morning, in the wee small hours, Ben was sick. He needed a couple of days to get back to his bouncy self.
On Wednesday, Esther came home from school feeling unwell. Between 4:30 and 10:30pm, she managed to vomit nine times!
On Saturday, Joel joined in with his siblings and was sick a few times as well!

However, all this can be a pretty normal turn of events for a Mum of young children, whatever country she may find herself in. What was less usual and a little more stressful was the fact that Andrew ended up in a Nairobi jail for a few hours on Tuesday! Here he is, with his fellow inmates, in his cell in downtown Nairobi:

Despite Andrew's hesitant smile, he endured a frustrating Tuesday morning!

His crime? Andrew was guilty as charged, of talking on his mobile phone whilst driving the car. The Traffic Police who I dread so much (see blog-post, "Nervous in Nairobi") had apprehended him for the above crime on Monday afternoon. I felt somewhat culpable, as it was me who had phoned Andrew on his mobile, so he was talking with me when he was pulled over by the officials!

Although Andrew had paid an on-the-spot fine, the system here still required that he attend Court the following day. Accordingly, he went early. He endured a long morning- of waiting to see the Judge (in a room full of random offenders, some in hand-cuffs), then being charged, then pleading guilty and being ordered to pay an additional penalty.
Next, Andrew was escorted to the above cell. The local system meant that Andrew had to wait in the holding cell until his penalty was paid at a nearby bank and the receipt presented, accepted and noted by the relevant authorities. Since he himself had been locked up, he clearly could not go to pay the fine in person!!
Thankfully, help was at hand in the form of a Kenyan MAF colleague, who went out to pay the penalty and bring back the receipts on Andrew's behalf. If Andrew had not had anyone to help him, he could have been detained much longer in his cell...
Meanwhile, Andrew had some time to reflect on this new experience of  being locked up...and time to get acquainted with fellow offenders, including a friendly Kenyan man who snapped the above picture to give me- the Worried Wife- a better idea of Andrew's circumstances on that stressful Tuesday!
It was a happy moment when I received the text message informing me that Andrew was a free man! I sent a relieved text message back to Andrew. I didn't dare to phone him, just in case he was driving...!!