Paul Tire Repair (and lessons on trust)

 A couple weeks ago Will was running errands and our car wouldn’t start. He was at a hardware shop that was close to a mechanic we used to fix our tires one time, so he called the mechanic to see if he could help. The mechanic, Paul, met Will at the hardware store and towed our car to his shop so he could fix it. Later that night, Will had a moment where he realized that Paul (someone we had never met in person before) had our car and car keys and we had no proof that he was actually going to get said car back to us at any point. We giggled at this thought because this situation is exactly how things are regularly done here, and yet, our western minds still have moments where we realize just how foreign it is to put so much trust in someone without signing a single document. 

As we were giggling about this scenario, I asked Will “do you even know Paul’s last name”. Meaning, if something actually did happen to our car, would we even have a full name to report? His response was “well, in my phone he is ‘Paul Tire Repair’”. More laughter ensued as we realized how “back” we truly are to life in Africa yet again. You hand your keys over to Paul Tire Repair and hope that you will in fact get a fixed car returned to you at some point in the future. You depend on those around you and hope it won’t turn into a huge disaster. 

We ended up getting our car back the very next day and everything was in working condition and great. They even drove it straight to our house for us so it was no extra work for us at all- they picked it up and they brought it back to us fixed!

There are so many scenarios here where we put ourselves in a position that leaves us having to trust people, really without many backup options if they don’t come through. The thing is, this is how Kenyan culture works. It’s a community. You need each other. You can’t do life on your own because you simply wouldn’t make it. So you trust people who you know can help you with what you need. Coming from a Western culture, this feels so out of my comfort zone. I would rather be self-sufficient and only trust people who I have a legally signed document that shows I can trust them (illusion of control?? Absolutely, but it makes me feel more secure!). However, I don’t believe this is what community is actually supposed to look like. We are meant to depend on each other and in the process, trust the Lord. 

What we learned through this is that in Kenya relational connections carry far more weight, and create far more trust, than legally binding documents do. Even when documents do need to be signed it is often after the relational connection has been made. So the reason Paul Tire Repair would come through is because there were immediate relational connections made (“do you know so and so? Oh wow! Do you also know this person?!”) and therefore, the shame of not delivering a good service would be far greater than trying to take something from us or be dishonest. Relational depth matters. People matter more than documents. It doesn’t seem like it should be a mindset shift, but it truly is one. We don’t realize how “transactional” we are in the States. We see people for what service they offer to us, but here the relationships matters over the transaction. 

So we are leaning into trust. We are learning yet again how to trust people over transactions or “legal documents”. This means giving people time and truly working to get to know them instead of just ask them to do a task for you. It means engaging deeply with the person in front of us and appreciating them for who they are and not just for the service they offer.