Petty Thefts
PETTY THEFT #2:
Yesterday I received in the mail your envelope of Scientific American and other news articles, along with the ten dollars. Being relatively short on cash, as usual, I quickly exchanged the $10 into Dalasi. Now, instead of having D35 in my wallet I had D345, enough to go out for dinner; and so we did. I met up with Allison and Bear and went to the "Come Inn" (a cheap, but nice place to eat), Kate L. joined later. After a few hours of eating we decided to leave. Kate and Allison were on the closer part of town while Bear and I needed a taxi. It was around 8:30.
Bear waved one down, and after a little wait of people getting out and getting change, Bear got in front and I got in back with a woman and a baby. A little drive later the woman wants to get out. I get out of the cab to let her out and realized my wallet almost fell out. I quickly put it back down the pocket and padded it; to be sure it was there. Got in the cab again, and moved over to the other side of the cab in case more people get in. Padded the wallet again, still there.
A few seconds later two men waved down the cab and got in back. I'm on one end, the guy who accidentally(?) stepped on my foot in the middle, and a third guy on the other end. The middle guy apologized for stepping on my foot and moved closer to me, to make room for the third guy who was making sure he could fit with the door closed. The middle guy started talking to me, I did the one greeting in Mandinka I knew and he asked how long I was in The Gambia, how long I will be staying, etc. Not entirely unusual, since you get those conversations once in a while in the cab, but something wasn't right. I looked to see where his hands were and they were on his legs clasp together. Periodically I looked to see where his hands were, since he kept on fidgeting around, and they were always on his lap. He continued talking until he told the driver he wanted to get out.
The third guy got out the car to let him out. I didn't think of padding the wallet again until the third guy was getting back in the car again and the cab was starting to move. Wallet not there. A little concerned, I checked the other pocket. Nope. Leaned to the front seat:
"Bear, I have to call Jeremy" (Jeremy being the head security personal)
"Why?"
"Wallet's missing."
"Stolen?"
"I think so."
The other guy in the back seat joined in the conversation by saying the now obvious, "I think that guy stole your wallet." My reply: "Yeah, I think he did." By that time we were blocks away from where the middle guy got out.
One of three things happened: 1. He stole it in the first thirty seconds before I started watching him, when he 'accidentally' stepped on my foot (as a distraction, perhaps). 2. I watched him steal my own wallet without me knowing it by thinking I saw two hands but in reality it was only one. 3. He had a decoy hand as a prop and used his real hand to swipe it. In order of lowest to highest probability: 3, 2, and 1.
Originally my plan was to go home, but went to Bear's instead to call Jeremy. He told me to come in the next morning and fill out an Incident Report. Today I went to the office and filled out the report. I didn't have quite the description they were hoping for: "Gambian with dark hair and ugly teeth" That was all that stood out. Total amount lost was D200 and $15 I had as Just-In-Case [The $5 JIC I had early wasn't quite enough the last time, so I included a $10 bill with another $5 for whatever occasion might arise which warranted up to $15]. If they happen to find the $15 folded up in the small pocket, then they came ahead around $25. It was a good thing I had my wallet in that pocket and not my cell phone; that is easily worth four to five times as much.
[Last week I had up to D8,000 on me when I cashed two people's checks plus my own for our monthly allowance. I paid D25 to have a private cab to myself driven straight to my door on that occasion]
For completeness sake, I might as well describe petty theft number one in detail as well.
PETTY THEFT #1
During training village we were told that our host mother or host sister would do our laundry for us, for a small fee plus soap. All clothes they would wash weekly, except underwear. Even up to the time staying in The SeneGambia we got used to washing underwear in a bucket, or in the bathtub (for the latter). So when I finally moved in to my apartment and the first week went by I didn't give it a second thought of handing over all my clothes, except underwear. That Saturday morning I quick did them in the morning, and placed on along the porch to dry during the day while I went out. Also didn't think anything of it when I came back and they were gone: Maybe the laundry people do underwear, saw them and placed them somewhere else to be done by them; or maybe they just placed them better to dry. No worries.
Sunday is their day off and also didn't think anything of not seeing where all my underwear went, minus the three pair I had inside, for that day either. On Monday I was down to the last clean pair. Later that day the laundry lady dropped off my clean and ironed clothes. Now I felt it odd that there was no underwear on top of the stack or even hidden between the ironed shirts. I tried asking her where all the clothes (i.e. underwear) were that were hanging on the porch on Saturday. The Wollof word for Saturday is 'Samdi', which sounds like 'Sunday' in English. She thought I was saying the word in English and was adamant that she doesn't work on Sunday and therefore shouldn't clean clothes. I agreed she doesn't work on Sunday but asked where the clothes were again. Mass confusion. Went to the landlady, she had no idea where they were either and even did a better job in the Wollof than I did (which, by the way, isn't hard to do) by asking the laundry lady herself and acting like a translator. No confusion of work schedule there, but a new found confusion that not even she knew where they went.
For the last few weeks I've been living off of three pairs of underwear until my package from home arrives. They do laundry twice a week, and because they don't work on Sunday I have to "Go Gambian" for a day or two. This is has the same feeling of driving a car with no hubcap, you can get from A to B without anyone noticing but you just feel naked. Hopefully the package will arrive on Friday.
The landlady talked to the laundry lady and our laundry and housecleaning bill is D350 a month. We could have talked it down a little, but the laundry lady starting washing our underwear and so we kept the price at where it's at for that little added comfort of no more "Go Gambian" days in the future.
Yesterday I received in the mail your envelope of Scientific American and other news articles, along with the ten dollars. Being relatively short on cash, as usual, I quickly exchanged the $10 into Dalasi. Now, instead of having D35 in my wallet I had D345, enough to go out for dinner; and so we did. I met up with Allison and Bear and went to the "Come Inn" (a cheap, but nice place to eat), Kate L. joined later. After a few hours of eating we decided to leave. Kate and Allison were on the closer part of town while Bear and I needed a taxi. It was around 8:30.
Bear waved one down, and after a little wait of people getting out and getting change, Bear got in front and I got in back with a woman and a baby. A little drive later the woman wants to get out. I get out of the cab to let her out and realized my wallet almost fell out. I quickly put it back down the pocket and padded it; to be sure it was there. Got in the cab again, and moved over to the other side of the cab in case more people get in. Padded the wallet again, still there.
A few seconds later two men waved down the cab and got in back. I'm on one end, the guy who accidentally(?) stepped on my foot in the middle, and a third guy on the other end. The middle guy apologized for stepping on my foot and moved closer to me, to make room for the third guy who was making sure he could fit with the door closed. The middle guy started talking to me, I did the one greeting in Mandinka I knew and he asked how long I was in The Gambia, how long I will be staying, etc. Not entirely unusual, since you get those conversations once in a while in the cab, but something wasn't right. I looked to see where his hands were and they were on his legs clasp together. Periodically I looked to see where his hands were, since he kept on fidgeting around, and they were always on his lap. He continued talking until he told the driver he wanted to get out.
The third guy got out the car to let him out. I didn't think of padding the wallet again until the third guy was getting back in the car again and the cab was starting to move. Wallet not there. A little concerned, I checked the other pocket. Nope. Leaned to the front seat:
"Bear, I have to call Jeremy" (Jeremy being the head security personal)
"Why?"
"Wallet's missing."
"Stolen?"
"I think so."
The other guy in the back seat joined in the conversation by saying the now obvious, "I think that guy stole your wallet." My reply: "Yeah, I think he did." By that time we were blocks away from where the middle guy got out.
One of three things happened: 1. He stole it in the first thirty seconds before I started watching him, when he 'accidentally' stepped on my foot (as a distraction, perhaps). 2. I watched him steal my own wallet without me knowing it by thinking I saw two hands but in reality it was only one. 3. He had a decoy hand as a prop and used his real hand to swipe it. In order of lowest to highest probability: 3, 2, and 1.
Originally my plan was to go home, but went to Bear's instead to call Jeremy. He told me to come in the next morning and fill out an Incident Report. Today I went to the office and filled out the report. I didn't have quite the description they were hoping for: "Gambian with dark hair and ugly teeth" That was all that stood out. Total amount lost was D200 and $15 I had as Just-In-Case [The $5 JIC I had early wasn't quite enough the last time, so I included a $10 bill with another $5 for whatever occasion might arise which warranted up to $15]. If they happen to find the $15 folded up in the small pocket, then they came ahead around $25. It was a good thing I had my wallet in that pocket and not my cell phone; that is easily worth four to five times as much.
[Last week I had up to D8,000 on me when I cashed two people's checks plus my own for our monthly allowance. I paid D25 to have a private cab to myself driven straight to my door on that occasion]
For completeness sake, I might as well describe petty theft number one in detail as well.
PETTY THEFT #1
During training village we were told that our host mother or host sister would do our laundry for us, for a small fee plus soap. All clothes they would wash weekly, except underwear. Even up to the time staying in The SeneGambia we got used to washing underwear in a bucket, or in the bathtub (for the latter). So when I finally moved in to my apartment and the first week went by I didn't give it a second thought of handing over all my clothes, except underwear. That Saturday morning I quick did them in the morning, and placed on along the porch to dry during the day while I went out. Also didn't think anything of it when I came back and they were gone: Maybe the laundry people do underwear, saw them and placed them somewhere else to be done by them; or maybe they just placed them better to dry. No worries.
Sunday is their day off and also didn't think anything of not seeing where all my underwear went, minus the three pair I had inside, for that day either. On Monday I was down to the last clean pair. Later that day the laundry lady dropped off my clean and ironed clothes. Now I felt it odd that there was no underwear on top of the stack or even hidden between the ironed shirts. I tried asking her where all the clothes (i.e. underwear) were that were hanging on the porch on Saturday. The Wollof word for Saturday is 'Samdi', which sounds like 'Sunday' in English. She thought I was saying the word in English and was adamant that she doesn't work on Sunday and therefore shouldn't clean clothes. I agreed she doesn't work on Sunday but asked where the clothes were again. Mass confusion. Went to the landlady, she had no idea where they were either and even did a better job in the Wollof than I did (which, by the way, isn't hard to do) by asking the laundry lady herself and acting like a translator. No confusion of work schedule there, but a new found confusion that not even she knew where they went.
For the last few weeks I've been living off of three pairs of underwear until my package from home arrives. They do laundry twice a week, and because they don't work on Sunday I have to "Go Gambian" for a day or two. This is has the same feeling of driving a car with no hubcap, you can get from A to B without anyone noticing but you just feel naked. Hopefully the package will arrive on Friday.
The landlady talked to the laundry lady and our laundry and housecleaning bill is D350 a month. We could have talked it down a little, but the laundry lady starting washing our underwear and so we kept the price at where it's at for that little added comfort of no more "Go Gambian" days in the future.
posted by Mike | 12:49 PM
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