Malaria, spitting cobras, and a host of other deadly critters affect daily life for those living in Uganda. As dangerous as those animals are, another danger to avoid is a Ugandan jail. In this three-part installment, I have asked my long-time friend Pastor Brent Phillips, CEO of Cherish Uganda, to share a real-life example of a father not leaving his son. I hope as you read this harrowing tale you will be reminded of God’s faithfulness and how he promises to never leave us.
“They are going to put Bo in jail.”
The phone call comes from my wife Leah around 6:45, “Bo pulled onto Entebbe Road after we thought the presidential convoy had finished going through, but it hadn’t. He was pulled over and now they want to impound the car. Can you come and get us?”
Bo and Leah had taken one of our staff girls to the doctor and were on their way back. They just so happened to be on the same road at the same time that Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were travelling from the airport into town.
Typically, if you are pulled over by a traffic cop in Uganda they either take your license or impound your car, or both, to insure that you will pay your traffic fine. Once the fine is paid you can get your license and/or car back. I hopped in our other car and headed up the road to go and get them. About 15 min. later I receive another call from Leah, through tears she says to me. “They are going to put Bo in jail.”
“What?”
She repeats, “They are going to put Bo in jail.” I tell her I will be there soon and start accelerating through the traffic.
I pull up to the police station, enter and see my wife seated in a chair in front of a desk, crying. Bo is surrounded by 4 or 5 police officers and I start asking questions:
“What did my son do wrong?”
“Why do you need to detain him?”
“Isn’t this just a traffic violation?”
“Who is in charge?”
All of these questions go unanswered. I then look to a man who is writing a report and ask him if we could work something out. He gives me the phone number of the head of traffic in Kampala and says this is the man I must deal with. I immediately call him. He answers the phone right away.
“My name is Brent Phillips and you are holding my son Bo Phillips…”
He cuts me off, “His actions were a breach of national security and I cannot allow it to stand. He interrupted a convoy of his Excellency, the President of Uganda and your secretary.” Click…
This can’t be happening. Does he think Bo is a “breach of security?” Is he looking at my 18 year old son and my crying wife thinking they have planned an attack that he has now foiled and Bo will have to pay the price? I start pleading with the officers in the station.
“Can I stay in jail in his place?”
“No, you are not the offender.”
“Can I stay in there with him?”
“No, you did not commit a crime.”
They go on to explain to me that he will go to court tomorrow and he will be prosecuted then. Prosecuted?!? The men start pushing Bo toward the cell. Leah’s cries get louder, Bo looks at me with fear in his eyes and I am pleading with God asking what I should do. I tell the men I need to see the cell before you put my boy in there.
“Fine.”
It is a dark empty room with no one in it. There is a light bulb hanging from a wire coming out of the ceiling, but it doesn’t work. There is a window with bars on it and a locked steel door that leads to the outside with a rusty hole in the bottom.
The officers ask Bo to take off his shoes, his belt and empty his pockets. They put him in the room and shut the door. I will never forget the look on his face as the door closed. I tell Leah to wait there in the lobby and I immediately run around the building to that window I saw. I call out Bo’s name and kneel down to the rusty hole in the door. He is already kneeling there. Up to this point Bo had been so full of courage and strength, even comforting Leah in the lobby. But now, I am looking into the eyes of my son and he isn’t 18 anymore – He looks like he is 10. We start praying through that rusty hole, asking God for strength, courage and freedom. I say Amen and Bo looks deep into my soul and says, “Dad, don’t leave me.”
“Bo, I am not leaving this place. I will be sleeping in front of this door or the other door until you are out of here.”
May you be encouraged and reminded that just as this earthly father would never leave his son, so to will our Heavenly Father never leave you…no matter what situation you are currently facing.