How to Catch a Thief

Entry Written February 13, 2009, (Sorry for no photos, unable to upload. Please read January Etude blog before this blog entry, thank you).

Well it has been twelve days and still no news. You are probably wondering what news I am waiting for. I am still waiting to hear anything from the gendarmerie (police) on whether they have any leads or any information on the persons that robbed my house.

“Robbed my house?!?”, you say. Well the last weekend in January I headed up to Ouaga for the warden meeting and I was away from my house four nights. I returned to my house and upon entering my house I found my huge metal canteen was stolen. When I say metal canteen think huge metal trunk with latches. The monster canteen had to have weighed over 100 lbs, because right before I left DBG I had received all of my Christmas packages. This blog was going to be about “Christmas in January” and I would have showed you all of my care packages with a tree and everything.

Sadly, I will be showing pictures to illustrate all of the food that went missing. Peace Corps volunteers have canteens to store food items so mice, rats, and insects do not eat their food. Within the canteen I put all the drink mixes/granola bars into zip lock bags or containers for added security because animals/insects are exploratory and insects and mice still get in.

I left on January 28^th, and this was the second time I had left my house, the week before I had gone to Ouaga for the inauguration. The night before I left I could not get my pouch of money to stick to the top of my underwear drawer. The duck tape was not keeping the money hidden. So on the day that I left I put my pouch of money ($400 US Dollars and 200 CFA (roughly $400) plus US credit cards) into my canteen. On good measure I also threw my album of DVDs that I had on my “coffee table” into my LOCKED CANTEEN. I felt fine leaving my house, safe, secure, and trusting that my locked door would keep anyone out.

I returned around noon of Sunday February 1^st and all my neighbors came out to welcome me back. All the children came up and took my bags to carry them to my house. I was so excited to finally get to dig into all of my American food. I had been dreaming about homemade salmon cakes, fig newtons, cereal with yogurt, and meat and cheese sandwiches. As I am talking to all the children, I am looking forward to give them some candies to thank them for carrying my bags . . . Looking back it is all a haze now.

As I unlock my door and push back the screen door my eyes falls on the petite bois table my canteen had been and there was nothing there. My mind goes blank and I think this has to be a joke. I become speechless and enter my house with all these children surrounding me. I begin breathing deeply and try to calm down yet all I can speak is French in clipped phrases. I go right to my French/English dictionary and I am trying to find the word for stolen. I am mumbling in French and pacing my living room back and forth as these kids have crazy expressions on their face. I probably looked like a crazy person to them. As I skim the pages of the dictionary I cannot remember how to spell stolen and I find myself among U-words.

Eventually I find the word for stolen, “steal” in French, and I ask these kids if they understand me. I think they just shook their head to appease me. I was starting to unravel and asked them to leave me be for a couple minutes. The children left and I found my phone and called the emergency duty phone for Peace Corps and the second the voice came on the other line I lost it and burst into tears for the first time since I came to Burkina Faso.

I stopped crying after 30 minutes and mainly sat and stared as my neighbors and colleagues from ASUDEC marched in and out of my house. My counterpart Lagou was so distraught by the entire experience and could not believe that I was robbed. He got me food to eat because I now had nothing in my house. All my food had been in my canteen.

All I wanted to do was sleep because I was exhausted from the 6-hour ride from Ouaga and only having 4 hours of sleep the night before. It was hard to sleep because people kept coming to say how sorry they were. In my mind all I could do was go over everything and be upset with myself. At no time during the entire experience did I want to go back to the United States or blame Burkina Faso. I would not let one/two people’s actions dictate or overpower the reason why I was here. I also do not want anyone who is reading my blog to feel resentment for the Burkinabe, robbery can happen anywhere in the world. The scary part was that there was no forced entry and they came in through my front door.

Last year another PCV’s house was broken into, the thief had come in through the front door by using a bunch of keys until they found one to turn the lock. I believe this is what happened at my house too. They found that guy because he had stolen 200 Euros and had tried to exchange them and the police had called all the banks to be on the look out for the exchange. I am still hoping that this will be how they catch my thief. Fingers Crossed!

First thing Monday morning I went with my counterpart and the regional director of ASUDEC to the gendarmerie to file my report. With all my years of reading Nancy Drew I told the commandant my suspicions and gave a detailed report of everything that had been taken. I sat there and laughed to myself as I wrote the list of food and tried to explain to these older men what tuna packets, Worchester sauce, and pad Thai were. There is no French word or Burkinabe equivalent because the only thing these men eat is Tô for every meal. I was also shocked with myself because I was more upset over the food being stolen then I was for the money (which when converted to US dollars totaled over $800). It is shocking how the situation you are in dictates your basic needs. Due to the fact that I was here in West Africa it was a lot harder to get American creature comforts. I could always make more money by being frugal but I could not so easily replace the American food. I also felt extremely guilty because it takes so much time and money to send over a care package to Burkina. Such guilt.

My Nancy Drew Suspicions: Three days before I left, my neighbors hired masons to construct a wall around our houses. These masons were there when I got my packages and one of them even asked if they could help carry them into my house. Another day I was having trouble with unlocking my front door and that same mason took my key and opened the door for me. I also found graffiti on my window screen done in cement on my return home from Ouaga. Since I was only gone 4 days it had to have been someone who knows me and knew I had left my house. Since my return I have not seen the one mason return to my house to work. Curious!

Now a Week and a Half later: Since my return to my house after the robbery I have been able to spend most of my days at my house. I was actually afraid to be gone for long periods of time. ASUDEC has been very nice and told me to do nothing but to stay at my house. Since I was so busy in January and never at my house I have enjoyed all of the free time though I am missing my DVDs, blast you thief. (Another funny thing is that all my DVDs were Lady films, so I hope the thief likes Jane Austen, British Romantic Comedies, and Friends) Two days ago my lock to my door was changed and yesterday I had my door reinforced with more external locks. I did not realize that I was afraid to leave my house but I was. I feel a weight lifted now that I have a little more security. It is scary to think that someone was here in my house among my things. Thank goodness I was not here.

What I Have Learned: Whenever I go to my post box I will take a bag to hide packages for the commute back to my house. I do not need to advertise that I got something from the United States. Because I am white they already assume that I am “rich” and when they see me carrying packages that advertises that I have “things.” I will also no longer have so much money in my house, I sadly could not do anything with my American dollars but I should not have had so much CFA. I was lucky that I had most of my electronics with me and the robber did not go through my other rooms and find my passports and jewelry.

In some ways I am glad that this happened so early in my service because it has made me more on guard. It has also alerted my neighbors to watch my house more closely when I leave. I am also so very thankful for being placed with an NGO because they were so responsive and have taken such great care of me. Peace Corps is headquartered in Ouaga 6 hours away so it was nice to have someone vouching for me here in DBG. I am also thankful that I live in a ville because the gendarmerie (police station) and hospital is right here only 1 km from my house. Now when I say hospital and police station please do not compare their services to something you might find in the United States. The efficiency is also not the same. It has been almost 2 weeks and I have not seen or talked to the gendarmerie since Feb. 2^nd. Here in Burkina, the police do not talk to the victim until they catch the thief. Therefore, I have no idea what is going on with the investigation. It is very frustrating, but now that I have more locks on my door and my windows are also being reinforced I feel better about my security. I have also come to grips with the possibility that I will not get my things back.

I am mentally fine and I do not take the thief personally and it has pushed me to integrate even more in my community. As my sister Jen advises, “Gwen, this will make you stronger!”

Thank everyone for their thoughtful emails and posts on my facebook wall, your encouragement was so great for my self-esteem and determination.