Thief! NGO’s and TIA

So, we’re sitting at the local chicken joint, Galito's, across from Shop Rite in Old Town (an area that’s widely known for its frequent robberies and muggings) when we hear a commotion outside.  There’s shouting outside while the store clerks inside begin pointing wildly; there’s excitement in the air, and we suddenly realize the whole community is chasing down a thief.   A few minutes later, the thief is apprehended and dragged back to be handed over to the police who are sauntering in the general direction of the event.  I was captivated by the immediate justice that was being doled out by the community.  No bystander effect here, not when there’s an opportunity to become a local vigilante hero.  I have read about people being beaten to death for snatching.  Part of me believes it’s good to make examples to prevent theft, but the other part of me believes that the punishment should fit the crime, and certainly beating the hell out of someone tips the scales in the opposite direction, leaving a debt on the violent beater rather than the thief. 

As an American, we’re somewhat insulated from these problems.  When something happens, we call 911 and expect someone else to handle the situation.  Kelly, a American Peace Corp volunteer I met in South Africa (and recently reconnected with in Malawi), told us how her cell phone got snatched two years ago.  She was walking home, carrying groceries and texting when a guy grabbed her phone and started running.  The community chased him down and gave him a severe beating.  Horrified, she begged them to stop.  They told her they had to teach him a lesson.  I had to wonder why someone would bother stealing when they knew the consequences could be so severe.

In contrast to immediate justice for thieves, communities tend not to react in matters of domestic violence.  Kelly told us about her involvement in a dispute that involved two men beating a woman in a local village.  Her and another skirted volunteer physically got involved and made front page news for interrupting the dispute.  Ironically, they were seen as meddlers when the woman clearly deserved to be beaten.  It struck me as a dichotomous culture.

There are so many NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) here, that one semi driver joked “in one ear and out the other” when we told him we wanted a reduced price because of our volunteer status.  The NGO’s all have their long names condensed into acronyms to the point that Kelly jokes, “Acronyms will be the death of me.”  To me, Kelly typifies many of the volunteers I’ve met: recent college graduate, makes friends easily, thinks of herself in a global environment, lives off of a dwindling savings account.

When I told Kelly about my irritation over yesterday’s water and power outage and painfully slow internet, her reply was TIA (this is Africa), kind of like a “what did you expect?”  Minor travel discomforts like annoyance, irritation, physical pain, inconvenience, and loss of personal space are a normal way of life for many people, and for me, they are the only way to obtain spectacular views, local perspective, delicious cuisine, excitement, and entertainment in this environment.  Limited access to a hunk of chocolate and cold bottle of Diet Coke hardly seems worth complaining about, but from time to time displacement makes them seem so immediately relevant to a feeling of normalcy.  Regardless, we soldier on.

There are elements I am proud to have more rapidly adjusted to.  For example, my ears have started immediately recognize opportunities to swap, trade, buy and sell (particularly with currency).  In Tofo, I was able to replenish my American cash from a Dutch girl at the ATM, and today in Malawi I sold $50 worth of Zambian Kwatcha to an American traveler who was heading to Zambia.  Of course, he first looked at me with those nervous eyes of skepticism, but after he did the online research, he recognized what a good deal Mark and I were offering and he was happy to trade his Malawian Kwatcha.  Today’s assertiveness saved us 4 hours of driving to and from the Zambian border and a crappy exchange rate.  Constantly thinking in terms of “How can I help you help me” has become a real asset.

I realized I’ve been throwing around so many names of towns we’ve been through, but I haven’t posted a map for reference, so for anyone (or more likely everyone) who has been wondering, “where the heck is that?” here are some maps of where we’ve been:

Map of Africa
borrowed, with appreciation, from the internet


 

I couldn't get the other maps to load, so I'll try again later to show the routes.  Basically, we flew in to South Africa for the apartheid museum and paragliding, then flew north to Zambia to jump in Victoria Falls, then flew east to Mozambique for the beach scene, then hitch-hiked north to Malawi (which looks like a spleen, but is knicknamed "the warm heart of Africa").  We're still in the eastern region of Southern Africa, but soon we'll be heading north to Tanzania, then Rwanda and Uganda.  If all goes according to our loose plan, we'll fly from Kampala, Uganda to Instanbul, Turkey where we'll start working our way south through the Middle East toward Cairo, Egypt.