Kampala — Do not accept lifts from strangers", we have been warned since childhood. Besides, we constantly read stories of serial rapists who kidnap women. Despite all this, hitchhiking is becoming a growing habit, especially among young women.

Martha, a third-year university student, says she hitchhikes all the time and has never run into trouble. Emily, a second-year student, says she has no problem hitchhiking as long as it is within Kampala but adds that she never gets into a car with tinted windows.

She is not the only girl who thinks she is smarter than an intending kidnapper. Namuli, a third-year university student, says she would never get into a stranger's car alone. Yet, the kidnapper could also have a friend behind the corner.

"I can tell a thug by looking at him," she says. Paul, who works for a non-governmental organisation, says he goes home late and often finds many girls stranded around bars, like Mateos. "If a girl flags me down, I will stop and see what I can do," he says.

In other cases, strangers persuade the women to get into their cars. Olivia, a 20-year-old resident of Ntinda Kalinabiri, tells of two men and a lady she ran into. They offered her a lift saying they knew her mother and even told her where she worked.

"Later, I realised they had earlier tricked me into telling them where I worked." She got into the car but remained sceptical. After travelling for a short distance, she excused herself, saying she had left something behind.

Such cases are not restricted to young girls. A friend's mother nearly fell victim. A man offered her a lift claiming he was a member of her church. "He even said praise God sister," she narrates. She declined the ride because she did not know the man. Todate, she has never seen him at church.

Kidnappers may devise other tricks like consistently picking you up until you feel safe with them. Thereafter, only he and the gods would decide your fate. A little rain or sun never killed anyone. Walking may literally save your life.