I promised to post regarding the bus incident from last so this is it! But before I get into all of that, I want to announce that the "subscribe" button has been successfully installed...this time for real. If you want regular updates, please subscribe. Then, please let me know you have done so so I can take you off the email list so you don't get double notifications. With a long list of emails I am always afraid I am leaving someone out. Subscribing takes care of that. You will need to enter your email address in the box under "Subscribe: Follow by Email" and then go to your email to confirm subscription. No worries about excessive emails. You will only get an email when there is a new post. Also a warning, this post is pretty long. Hopefully the next one will be fun, like a video tour of my apartment, cute kids or something like that. I have been thinking all day about what to write, which is why I didn't get it done in the morning. I decided to just tell the story as it happened because so many people asked so many questions. Also, maybe it is just therapeutic to just get it out publicly. Read it if you wish. Feel free to comment, but please do not send negative comments. I do live in a very peaceful place and take all the precautions I can, especially since there is no way for me to hide the fact that I am a foreigner. I do not feel like my life is in danger and I do not feel I made any flippant decisions when this occurred. Thank you so much! I don't think you can leave comments unless you have subscribed to the blog.
El Salvador is an absolutely beautiful country. But just like any other country in the world, there are dangers every day. Central America may have more crime than a lot of areas of the world but most of the time it is not something you will see or experience unless you frequent the dangerous cities and neighborhoods. As some of you know, I had the misfortune of experiencing something many in this country fear: being "asaltada" (assaulted) on the bus. I was not physically assaulted as the English word typically refers to. I was on a bus traveling back from San Salvador with a friend who needed to visit her baby. Her baby was in the NICU and they only allow one hour visits here. She had her 9 yr old son Kevin with her, who could not enter the hospital. I offered to go along so that he wouldn't have to stand outside a hospital in a not-so-great part of San Salvador by himself for an hour. Jose, the preacher here, agreed and said he would like it if I accompanied them. We went on a public transportation bus.
The visit with the baby went great. My time outside with Kevin was pretty good. We bought a little gift for the baby from a vendor right outside the hospital. I wanted him to be able to give something to his mom for the baby. On the way back, we decided to stop at a Burger King. We had passed one on the way there and Kevin had never been to a restaurant with a play area. He was so excited. We planned for the meal and play time to be less than half an hour so we could get on the very next bus and be back before dark. The meal, complete with play time climbing two stories high, kid's meal toy and Burger King crown, was a success! We made it back outside to the bus stop before the next bus was to arrive. The problem was, the next bus didn't come. Neither did the next one...or the next one. We contemplated calling and having someone come pick us up but we decided to give it a little more time because that is a long way for someone to have to drive to get us. Bad move.
Over an hour and a half later, the last bus arrived. It gets dark around 7pm here so we knew we were going to get back after dark. I never travel on a bus after dark. This was about a 3 hour bus ride. La Palma, where I live, is very calm and safe. But San Salvador, and the towns we were going to have to go through to get back here, are not. I was a little nervous at first, but the bus wasn't crowded and everything seemed calm. Then it happened. I was sitting in the seat across the aisle from my friend, with my legs folded to where my feet were on the seat. Some guy came and sat on my feet. Strange. there were plenty of empty seats on the bus. Then I saw his eyes and I knew I was in trouble. I reached out and sort of pushed him. He then pushed me against the window. I said, "Hey, hey" to my friend. I was so shocked by what was happening I couldn't even remember her name. By the time it got her attention (she had fallen asleep. After all, she had just had a baby 3 days prior and this was her second day traveling on the bus), he had already told me to shut my mouth or he would kill me. He spoke in English, mainly cussing and threatening. He turned to her and asked him to leave me alone, that I had been helping her out and didn't have anything. I suddenly felt horrible for getting her involved. That was the last thing he wanted. As soon as she looked over and began to talk, I started shaking my head trying to tell her not to talk. I felt it would make her a target as well. The music was loud enough in the bus that he could deal with me without people hearing what was going on...as long as I cooperated. I feared he was going to hurt my friend and her son, or others on the bus. He told me he had a gun and raised his shirt tail to show me. I didn't look. I didn't want to know. He told me to give him my phone. He called me all sorts of choice words and asked me what else I had. I said I had nothing. For some reason he didn't take my bag, which was a good thing. Not that I was carrying much, but I did have my passport with me. He asked me for my money. All I had in my front pocket was a $5, wrapped in a BK receipt and some change. I pulled out the $5 and handed it to him. He got super angry that there wasn't more but I could tell he was wanting to leave. It had taken longer than he anticipated I think, with my friend talking to him, etc. He looked at the money, called me names and left the bus. As you can imagine, I was pretty shaken up. I went to sit between Sandra and Kevin.
About 20 minutes later, several people who had been sitting in the back of the bus were getting off together. A guy walked up, leaned over the seat and tried to hand me a card. On the inside, I panicked. I thought maybe it was a threat of some kind or something. Sandra took the card and we looked at it when they left. This is what is said, front and back:
This whole incident was probably less than 2 minutes total. And during that time, I can honestly say I did not fear death. I did not need to fear death. I have a loving Savior ready to welcome me home when my time comes. However, I did fear my friend losing her son, or her son and baby losing their mother, getting physically assaulted, etc. I don't see how so many thoughts could go through my mind in such a short period of time, but I can assure you they did. The unanimous opinion here is that it was gang related, probably someone deported from the U.S. based on his English and choice of words. That the bus was already "infiltrado" (Infiltrated. In this case, someone already on the bus scoping things out and communicating with gang members who were waiting for a target). This, of course, is just the opinion of almost everyone who knows about it. However, I don't necessarily disagree. I have spent a good part of today reading about the gangs here and how they got here, etc. My heart aches because for many, especially for the poorest living in the areas where gangs are so active, there only choice is to join one of the two "mega gangs" here in El Salvador. They are recruited as children, before they really even know what is happening to them. And with a country this small, there is really nowhere to run and hide if you choose to get out. I look around the peaceful town where I live and love seeing kids outside playing marbles and soccer vs. being indoors playing video games. But even for a peaceful town such as this, for the kids here to get an education beyond high school, they have to travel regularly on some dangerous routes in order to get a higher education. Many families just aren't willing to take the risk. Most can't afford daily bus fare anyway. I know I can't change the world, or even El Salvador. But my prayer is that I can touch at least one person, even in the smallest of ways, to provide a different hope for the future. I have so many ideas and such but each day I wake up knowing there is only so much I can do in one day. So I press on. I will do what I can, even when I don't feel like it.
Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read this. Please continue to keep me and this country in your prayers. Even though I don't feel scared to be here, I think somewhere inside I'm still a little bit traumatized by the event. I have had insomnia again since last week that event the essential oils and herbal sleep meds are not working. I have been falling asleep around 4am. And then, I wake up with dreams about broken cell phones, stolen money, bus rides, etc. They are not nightmares or violent dreams, but I do wake up and I do remember them. Since the common theme seems to be about the particular items in the event, I am assuming that is where they are coming from. Some subconscious memory of things. I also hear the buses go by and notice every single one of them. Please pray that I am able to get some sleep and that the dreams would stop. The conscious part of me is not feeling the stress I must be feeling when I finally do go to sleep.
I will do everything I can to make the next post shorter and happier!
Blessings,
Kristi
