It is quite a common occurrence to be asked to give someone a lift when living and working in the reserves. I have often given people lifts to lodges, villages and local towns in the area, including dropping and picking sick people.
However, things took a bad turn in August. I had gone to pick a sick lady from the lodge to take her to her village in West Gate. At the same time a young man I did not know asked me for a lift. I agreed.
He sat in the back of my car and as I was driving along, he proceeded to pull my bag, which was next to me, inch by inch. I did not realize this at the time. When we arrived at his drop-off point, he alighted from the car, thanked me and disappeared. I did not know that he had my small bag under his shirt.
I realized a few hours later that my bag had gone, rallied my team together and we went and tracked the man from where I dropped him off. Luckily the sick lady I had dropped off actually knew the name of the man who had stolen my bag. She told me (and everyone agreed) that he was indeed a famous thief and had stolen from many others in the past. I wish I had known that.
Fortunately, the guys (Raphael, Joseph and the Ewaso Lion scouts) tracked him to a nearby village where he had used some of my money to get a hair-cut and was in the process of leaving the area for the next town. If he had managed to leave, I would have never found him.
I managed to get all my belongings back, although he had thrown away all my receipts and papers into the Ewaso Nyiro River. I also had to spend a lot of money on paying the community for assisting me, fuel to travel to the police station and a lot more. I had not budgeted for such instances and realise now how important it is to have emergency money.
I am very grateful to everyone who assisted me during this ordeal, but especially to my fantastic team who supported me and gave me hope and encouragement that it would all work out.