December 22, 2009 was the day before Dr. Chris’s 51st birthday and three days before a young Nigerian “underwear bomber” attempted to blow up an airplane over the United States. While my biggest concern that Tuesday was where to put the sugarplums on a gingerbread house, Dr. Chris was on the other side of the world, praying to live through the night.
His recap of that evening, minus the horrific abduction details, is this:
“While in search of a loan to pay my staff their December salary (due to failure of CRS/AIDSRelief to send funds when due) I was trailed by three armed robbers who dehumanized me and left with the Prado Jeep. A month later, I got some messages from Cameroon that two of the robbers had been caught; the vehicle was also recovered from them.
“I finally picked up the car and it’s now in Jos in good shape. Apart from the spare tire that the robbers sold out on their way, the car is intact. However, despite the new battery that we put in when collecting the vehicle, it took hours to start. Goddy and I discovered that the car must have stopped them on the way, but they managed to fix the car as the electrical system and fuel pump were tampered with.
“Three of the robbers woke up after an overnight stay in a hotel in Mora, Cameroon—border between Borno State(Nigeria) and Cameroon. They all three were working on the car, including attempting to change the plate number when a Cameroonian policeman was passing by. He suspected something was wrong for three persons to be changing a plate number. He confronted the men and one immediately fled. The other two were arrested.
“During one of my visits to Cameroon with Goddy, I was able to identify the leader of the gang and the second person. I hugged and prayed with them. I plan to visit them before the expiration of their four-year jail term.”
(Photo of Goddy, Dr. Chris's driver, washing the Prado in fall 2009. I waited to blog about the Prado incident until it was successfully recovered and I got Dr. Chris's permission.)
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