Big Guns

One Saturday I went to the tar road to catch the bus to Thohoyandou to do some shopping. While I was waiting for the bus I noticed the SA Police going past the bus stop more than normal and they had their lights flashing, but no sirens. Strange. Their lights are just small white ones that flash.

After getting on the bus, it stopped in the middle of the road in the next town and people began talking and standing up and looking to the side. I also looked and saw a white vehicle with a man getting out carrying a handgun with a very large barrel. A police car had stopped directly in front of the bus going in the opposite direction, another car was on the side and I think there was at least one or two others but do not know because I saw the man with the handgun and another with a rifle coming towards the bus. It was pretty unsettling because everyone on the bus spoke mostly Tshivenda. I did get one woman to tell me in English that they were looking for someone but she said she didn't know anything else. After searching the bus, the police left, put their guns in their cars and we drove off. We drove on picking up people and I wondered if a person who committed a crime would actually use the slowest form of transportation in the area as their get away vehicle.

These buses are not normal size - they are two buses joined together and they have an area that rotates in the middle for going around curves. The bus is really slow because it can hold a lot of people so it stops a lot along the way. It can take up to 2 hours to travel the 54 KM to town. And most of the time the seats end up filled up very early in the trip and the isle becomes crammed full of people. They will put as many people on the bus as they can get. Someone said as long as there is an empty lap, another person can get on the bus or taxi.

I met a friend in town who started up an after-school program for the children in two rural villages south of the next town over, Tshaulu. We rode the bus home together and he found out that the police were looking for 3 men. He is very interested because the bus was stopped in his town but he has not found out anything else.

I do not know if there is any correlation, but the following week someone entered my room while I was in the outhouse and stole money, a wind-up flashlight and my multitool. Made me realize this area is not as safe as I thought.