I was 'Arrested'

Security is strangely tight.

Be careful where you step.

Be careful whose yelling you ignore.

Be careful where you take pictures.

 

It turns out that a good road to learn how to drive a boda on is also located right by the prison barracks. And apparently it is illegal to take pictures (without proper permission) of anything in the vicinity or direction of these said barracks.

Who knew??

I am an ignorant American. Absolutely! I wholeheartedly agree with that statement, and probably would have been the first to admit it. I just didn’t realize my ignorance would lead me to getting arrested by a soldier in Uganda.

Okay… as I am sure everyone is now curious beyond imagination…..

I accompanied Anna-Claire to her driving lessons. We were just cruising along the road until the traffic weaned. I got off, started taking pictures and video and off her and the very trust-worthy boda driver went.

Hm… what am I to do with myself? I’m certainly NOT going to run after the boda and why walk that direction when they will be coming back? Being the faux photographer that I am, I looked around for some great photo opportunities. Given that we were outside of town a bit, I thought there might be some cool buildings, flora/fauna, or even some animals. I was lucky enough to see the sun shining through the clouds with some nice trees and some interesting looking huts. So… off I went through the weeds that are on the side of the road toward a fence-line (which didn’t actually have a fence there) and took some photos.

I took a couple of the huts with the sun, then a couple of some trees and the sun and then decided to check out what was on the other side of the road. As I was coming through the weeds, I heard someone yelling. Yelling at muzungus – typical. But then I realized he was coming toward me very angrily, and there was a guy dressed in soldier’s attire behind him. Out of respect of him yelling and asking what I was doing, I walked toward him. He proceeded to grab my camera, I refused to let him.

He questioned what I was doing.  I offered to show him the pictures, told him it was of the sun and clouds. I mean no harm. Wasn’t really sure what was so upsetting. Turns out that I was facing the soldier’s barracks and had a camera, all a bad sign…. OOPS!!

He took me into the gated area to the office. It seemed as though he didn’t even want to escort me the entire way, but he did. And the story he told the Captain in charge was that I was running from him after going through the fence, etc etc. After he finished they told him to leave and I got to tell my side of the story. I got the impression that the guy – who was being an absolute jerk face – was over exaggerating a bit with how angry he needed to be toward me. The men in charge seemed to agree with me by their demeanor, even if they didn’t really say it. As soon as the Jerk Face left, I explained that I had never been to this side of town, had no idea it was the barracks and I meant no harm. I explained the part about Anna-Claire learning to ride the boda and they thought that was strange. I showed them the pictures a couple times, first time just to see what I took. And then they just had me delete the ones that showed the buildings/huts. They didn’t even look inhabited, but I agreed. I apologized. They said it was okay, they just have to make sure things were secure. They got my name, where I was staying, and then escorted me back out where Anna-Claire, looking absolutely freaked out, was waiting with Oscar (boda driver).

I’ll be honest; I was a bit freaked out when I started getting yelled at. And even more concerned when I was taken to the office and the guy accused me of doing something bad. But soon the captain assured me it was okay and to relax. He actually said that a couple of times. So I got the impression (after a few minutes talking) that it wasn’t a big deal and I would be alright. I didn’t really do anything wrong, they were just making sure.

The whole event gave Anna-Claire and me quite the adrenaline rush. If I really had been arrested, what would we have possibly done?? Oh well, I wasn’t and now we have learned from my stupid mistake.

On to a different area, one that is more safe, to take some better pictures!!

(Luckily I saw the Captain later in the evening and he apologized again. He said they didn’t want to inconvenience us, but they had to be careful. Not that I would try to crawl through the weeds to get information I could get flying through the air or some other means. But they still had to be careful. I told him I completely understood, and it was not a problem. He was very nice. Thanks, Captain. I feel better.)