Things that go bump in the night....

We arrived in Entebbe after 22 hours of flying, as scheduled, and had a rather uneventful 7 hour drive to Gulu. Little did we know that things would become eventful in an unwanted way before too much time went by.

Even though it was late in the day, we were greeted by a couple from Gulu Bible Community Church who gave us a warm welcome and a tour of our new house. Since it was not furnished, we spent the first few days in a hotel in Gulu. We purchased the bare minimum of furniture: beds for 2 of the rooms, 10  plastic patio chairs, and a few kitchen supplies such as dishes and cups. We were beginning to unpack the suitcases and incredibly large duffle bags; Shirley describes them as large enough to put a body in. Thoughts of the many people who had contributed sewing items and money to make this trip a reality warmed my heart. Although we so far from making this house a home, it felt natural to be here. 

Unfortunately, something happened to make us feel very uncomfortable and insecure in our house. We were asleep the night of August 21 when we were awakened at approximately 3:00 a.m. by the sounds of men shouting and fighting outside. Jeff ran into the living room to see the front doors wide open. He called out for me, concerned that I might be outside. I ran up to him and saw that the strong padlock we carefully use each night to secure the front door was missing. We ran into the hallway leading to the bedrooms, locking the hallway door behind us. On the way to our bedroom at the end of the hall, we woke up Shirley. We three locked ourselves into the unlit bedroom, armed with the only things at hand: a can of mousse and a spray bottle of DEET.

By this time, things had grown quiet outside. Jeff peered around the window and saw someone with a bow and arrow. He whispered to phone Robert, our faithfully friend and driver for long distance travel. “Robert, please come! There were men shouting and arguing, Jeff saw someone with a bow and arrow, and we don’t know where our guard is”. It took about 10 minutes for Robert to arrive.  He ascertained that no one was on our property, then knocked on our front door.  “Baba Jeff and Momma Yvonne, it’s safe to come out” were some of the most beautiful words ever spoken.dibly

We turned on all the lights in the house and found that someone had gone into every room of the house, taking everything of value. The mini photo printer- taken from the kitchen counter. My MacBook Pro - taken in its case from the living room. Shirley's backpack was missing. And from our bedroom they took a number of items. A quilted case containing external USB drives which had been right next to n bottles  needed for a year, and the meter for measuring the INR of my blood. All gone. 

And all then cash we had on hand was gone. Poof!  Just like that. 

And it slowly dawned on me, My purse contained not only cash, my passport and credit cards, but my $4500 sound processor which allows me to hear from my deaf side. 

The guard was in the guard house adjacent to the only entrance to the property. 

Robert and the guard walked the property, and came to the gazebo which had been designed to look like a hut. From the outside looking in, Jeff and Robert could see many of our belongings thrown around.  For example, all of the contents of the large suitcase from our bedroom were dumped out and rifled through.

Robert went to the police station and paid for the police to come out to do an investigation. When the sun rose, he went back to pickup the officers He also picked up a police dog and handler. Fingerprints were taken from any flat surfaces. When we were allowed to retrieve belongings from the crime scene, we found that Shirley’s backpack was untouched except for her share of the cash she was carrying, Jeff’s backpack was gone - except that his passport had been taken out and left behind on the floor.  My computer was taken, as were my USB backup drives. And my purse was gone, including all of its contents.
People from the church were called early on and began showing up to lend us support. Tim Cypher, another missionary located in Gulu, heard and came with coffee and muffins. We were surrounded by loving and caring people throughout the day.
Later that day Jeff and Robert were called to the police station to give their statements. The security guard and his friend were arrested as the prime suspects.
It has been an odd week, with the security guard and friend being bailed out by the landlord, who began pointing his finger at Robert as the criminal. The investigation is still ongoing. There is little hope that we will recover our money and possessions.


We still have many unanswered questions.
How did the thugs get the key to our front door padlock?
How did all three of us sleep through the activity of people going through the house carrying things. And what about the large number of the things that were taken from our room? That must have taken some time. One theory is that they used some sort of gas to put us into a sound sleep.
Where was the guard during the time they broke into our house, removed our belongings, and went through our possession?. What didn’t he check on our safety after allegedly chasing off the thieves?


What have we learned from this?

1) We have a lot of love and support in Uganda. We are so far from home, but they have helped carry us through.
2) The Grove, our home church, has some incredibly loving and dedicated people in the Outreach Department. They worked round the clock to make sure we knew they were backing us.
3) We have a strong network of caring friends in the U.S.  They have maintained a steady source of strength for us.
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