My missionary son Ian Shelburne told me this story.

Noeli Luchivya and her husband James are Kenyans serving with an Mbale, Uganda, mission team.  Noeli is an encourager to women and has an irrepressible spirit.  She was returning to Mbale from a visit home to Kenya. Her trials began when the conductor of the matatu (public transport pickup or minivan) had an attitude.  He demanded her fare even before the vehicle left the roadside, then charged her far too much for the distance to be traveled. Things got worse as the man behind the wheel began driving even more recklessly than is unfortunately typical in such rattletraps.

Noeli, feeling most uncomfortable with all of this, asked the conductor to stop the matatu and let her out. He was uncooperative and belligerent--until, unexpectedly, two Kenyan men also riding in the matatu took up her cause. They agreed that the conductor had treated her badly and insisted that the matatu stop and let Noeli and them also out. The three were able to flag down another matatu and continue their journey.

A scant mile or two down the road they came upon the twisted wreckage of the first matatu, an accident that killed several of the occupants. Grateful to be alive, Noeli made her way on across the border and back home to Mbale.

You may not have recognized something particularly unusual in this story: It is unheard of for Kenyan men, complete strangers to Noeli, to do for a woman what those two did for her. Their unexpected, inexplicable support probably prevented her death or serious injury in the delinquent matatu.

 "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them..."