Vaughn has returned to Zambia from 4 weeks of globe trotting, and he brought back with him another housemate, Luke Heneghan. Luke is going to be a Junior at Notre Dame in the fall and wanted to come out to Zambikes to do an internship for the summer.
But before Luke even had time to acclimate, he and I found ourselves thrust into an unintentional international adventure...
We were just on our way to the mall to pick up a few things, but somehow we ended up in a police station being accused of trying to assassinate the president of Zambia.
How could we possibly find ourselves in that scenario you might ask? Well, it is quite simple really. Vaughn, Luke, and I had just finished grabbing a bite to eat for lunch. Vaughn was on his way back to the Zambikes office and was going to drop Luke and I off at the mall. When we came to the intersection by the mall the police had stopped all other lanes of traffic and a police officer was in the middle of the road directing us to keep driving. Since we couldn't get over to the mall parking lot, Vaughn decided just to drop us off at the intersection. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. But we quickly realized this wasn't a typical situation. As Luke and I jumped out of the car we were immediately being yelled at by several police officers. Vaughn sped off quickly and pretended not to notice all the police shouting at him and trying to wave him down. Almost immediately after Vaughn’s hurried departure, a motorcade passed through the intersection... The president’s motorcade.
Luke and I were left standing on the corner of the intersection with police shouting orders at us. We were escorted to the nearby police station and told that we should call our lawyers. They told us that we were in serious trouble and were going to be detained and deported. That was when they accused us of trying to assassinate the president. When Luke protested, I motioned to him to let me do most of the talking. After all, this was not the first time I had been threatened to be thrown in jail or deported. I had learned from my last encounter with Zambian officials that the best thing to do is continue to apologize and let them talk. It is not a matter of reasoning with them. So, I put these principles into practice. I told the police that Luke and I had just arrived in Zambia and we did not realize our mistake. We were extremely sorry and it was our own fault. The police demanded that we tell them who was the man who dropped us off (because they could impound his car and bring a legitimate charge against him). I explained that he had given us a ride, but we did not know him. They did not believe us at first, but we stuck with our story. After an hour or so of being detained at the police station, the police were still trying to decide what to do. A man from the president’s security team had arrived and questioned us as well. He was much more reasonable than the other police officers (who responded to everything we said with, “If I don’t put you in jail I will lose my job and then who will feed my children. Will you?”). He explained that we committed a serious offense and it requires that we defend our case in court. It could not be covered by paying a fine. But after being convinced that it was an innocent mistake, he tried to come up with another solution- such as a traffic offense to charge us with or something that we could at least pay and be on our way. So I told them we had 100,000 Kwacha ($20) on us, but we would need to keep some money for a bus fare back home. Finally, he said, “Keep your money,” and he sternly warned us to never catch a ride with a stranger and never let our transport stop illegally to let us out. And with that, Luke and I were pardoned and released. As we walked out of the police station toward the mall, I turned to Luke and said, “Well... Welcome to Zambia.”
But before Luke even had time to acclimate, he and I found ourselves thrust into an unintentional international adventure...
We were just on our way to the mall to pick up a few things, but somehow we ended up in a police station being accused of trying to assassinate the president of Zambia.
How could we possibly find ourselves in that scenario you might ask? Well, it is quite simple really. Vaughn, Luke, and I had just finished grabbing a bite to eat for lunch. Vaughn was on his way back to the Zambikes office and was going to drop Luke and I off at the mall. When we came to the intersection by the mall the police had stopped all other lanes of traffic and a police officer was in the middle of the road directing us to keep driving. Since we couldn't get over to the mall parking lot, Vaughn decided just to drop us off at the intersection. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal. But we quickly realized this wasn't a typical situation. As Luke and I jumped out of the car we were immediately being yelled at by several police officers. Vaughn sped off quickly and pretended not to notice all the police shouting at him and trying to wave him down. Almost immediately after Vaughn’s hurried departure, a motorcade passed through the intersection... The president’s motorcade.
Luke and I were left standing on the corner of the intersection with police shouting orders at us. We were escorted to the nearby police station and told that we should call our lawyers. They told us that we were in serious trouble and were going to be detained and deported. That was when they accused us of trying to assassinate the president. When Luke protested, I motioned to him to let me do most of the talking. After all, this was not the first time I had been threatened to be thrown in jail or deported. I had learned from my last encounter with Zambian officials that the best thing to do is continue to apologize and let them talk. It is not a matter of reasoning with them. So, I put these principles into practice. I told the police that Luke and I had just arrived in Zambia and we did not realize our mistake. We were extremely sorry and it was our own fault. The police demanded that we tell them who was the man who dropped us off (because they could impound his car and bring a legitimate charge against him). I explained that he had given us a ride, but we did not know him. They did not believe us at first, but we stuck with our story. After an hour or so of being detained at the police station, the police were still trying to decide what to do. A man from the president’s security team had arrived and questioned us as well. He was much more reasonable than the other police officers (who responded to everything we said with, “If I don’t put you in jail I will lose my job and then who will feed my children. Will you?”). He explained that we committed a serious offense and it requires that we defend our case in court. It could not be covered by paying a fine. But after being convinced that it was an innocent mistake, he tried to come up with another solution- such as a traffic offense to charge us with or something that we could at least pay and be on our way. So I told them we had 100,000 Kwacha ($20) on us, but we would need to keep some money for a bus fare back home. Finally, he said, “Keep your money,” and he sternly warned us to never catch a ride with a stranger and never let our transport stop illegally to let us out. And with that, Luke and I were pardoned and released. As we walked out of the police station toward the mall, I turned to Luke and said, “Well... Welcome to Zambia.”
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