Honk Your Own Horn: A close call at the border.
East of Nigeria, there is a French speaking country called Benin. This is one of a number of countries on the West Coast of Africa, where a little over a century ago, the slave trade was doing a brisk and bloody business, mostly to fuel the sugar industry. In some of these coastal towns, corruption, intimidation, cheating, and extortion are still practiced. It is still a dirty business to this day to try and cross the border from one country to another. One needs to come prepared to pay the ransoms demanded by the various corrupt border officials, as very few of them have integrity, on either side of the border. This corruption extends out into the environs round about, to just about anyone who is wicked enough to bully his or her way into robbery and extortion.
We were coming out of heavy ministry to villages where no white person had ever ministered before, and had the misfortune of needing to cross the border after darkness had fallen. My host, Provost Victor went to haggle with the officials about allowing us to cross the border, leaving me in the darkness with a driver who was afraid of the dark and the trouble it could bring. Presently, several men approached our vehicle, pretending to have authority as to where we should park. They gruffly demanded that we move our car from that location to another. Of course, the place they wanted us to park was further from the officials, and farther back into the darkness. Their intent was to steal our possessions, and, in the process, do harm to us and, to our vehicle. I refused to allow the driver to move. The men began pounding on the roof of our car, demanding that we move. I also pounded on the roof of the car, and made a decision. I reached over and put my hand on the horn and began blowing the horn in one long steady blast. I determined that anyone would have to use great force before my hand would allow the horn to cease its loud continuous blaring. The criminals did not want this undue attention brought upon them, as they knew that they were greatly overstepping their authority. My hand remained upon the horn, and it blared loud and long until the men slunk away into the darkness, and did not return. Presently, we went safely upon our way.