Today marks the first day where I have actually felt strange inside my home.
I went over to Dogbo to present ‘South Korea’ to Kristin’s geography club. It was entertaining to see the kids all excited to learn about another country and to want to learn the Korean alphabet. So by the end of the hour I had written a few phrases in Korean, as well as, the phonetics to pronounce the words easily. If someone had taken a picture of this it would have been interesting because here are a bunch of Beninese kids with French and Korean on the chalkboard, being led by a Korean-American and Polish girl.
Anyway, I got back home after around 3 hours and when I opened my front door I realized something was amiss. I normally leave my back door open when I go on day trips because of the heat and difficulty in physically closing the door. The screen door is always closed, but when I walked in I noticed that my bottle of bleach was propping open the door. I contemplated this for a second, maybe, just maybe, the wind blew the door open and somehow an animal pushed the bottle to prop open the door. No, that is too far-fetched. This sent chills through my body because that meant someone came in here through the backdoor.
I quickly, and quietly, moved around my house in case I could catch the culprit (this has happened to other volunteers before) but found no one around. I did a quick inventory of the more expensive items in my house: laptop (check), usb internet key (check), ipod (check), sunglasses (check), money (check). I was shocked and content that at the very least the thief (or intruder) didn’t take anything of real value. As I sat down in my chair I realized that I missed one item, my camera!
Alas, my camera had been stolen and I couldn’t help but feel frustrated and stupid. Frustrated, because what the hell is a kid going to do with a digital camera without the battery charger and cable? Stupid, because I shouldn’t be leaving with my backdoor wide open, even for short trips. I went outside to tell my mama what happened. She was incredibly upset and told me to go to the local police. I did. It just so happens that my neighbor is the chief of the brigade in Djakotomey so he came over and had a look around to see if there was any evidence left behind. This made me laugh because if you saw my back wall there is no way that anyone would struggle and leave footprints or handprints unless the culprit was playing in mud beforehand.
After a careful tour of the back area and surrounding field the chief came to tell me that, “After [his] observing the area, there is no evidence left behind.” I thanked him for his hard work and he went on his way. He sent one of his minions a little later to get the dimensions of my camera.
I doubt I’ll see that camera again. The worst part about this is that now I need to find another camera to take pictures of my latrines!
***UPDATE*** Bang bang bang. Bang bang bang. What time is it? Four AM? What is going on. “Oui? C’est quoi?” (Yes, what is it?) Can you please come out here for a second? Pull on some clothes and walk out. See the chief sitting in a chair, looking a bit disheveled, but content. Hello! How are you? I am good, have you been resting? Yes, thank you. I sit in the other chair. So? Well, I have not rest since I heard about your camera. I COULD NOT rest since then. Really? I am sorry, thank you for your hard work. Wondering what this was leading to. Look over at papa, dangling something in his hands. MY CAMERA?! Grab the camera, marveling at seeing it again. Papa has something else. My camera case?! Exclaim my thanks in weird primeval noises. Chief laughs. But…. How?! It is my job. Laughs again. Thank you so much! You are formidable!!! More laughing. Have a good night, know that you are in good hands here. Can’t stop smiling and have a hard time sleeping for at least thirty minutes.
Turns out the culprit stole my battery, and what do you know, my battery charger. No worries though, I think I might be able to find a replacement in Cotonou. Pretty amazing! Hopefully I can find out more about who did it and how they found it.
I went over to Dogbo to present ‘South Korea’ to Kristin’s geography club. It was entertaining to see the kids all excited to learn about another country and to want to learn the Korean alphabet. So by the end of the hour I had written a few phrases in Korean, as well as, the phonetics to pronounce the words easily. If someone had taken a picture of this it would have been interesting because here are a bunch of Beninese kids with French and Korean on the chalkboard, being led by a Korean-American and Polish girl.
Anyway, I got back home after around 3 hours and when I opened my front door I realized something was amiss. I normally leave my back door open when I go on day trips because of the heat and difficulty in physically closing the door. The screen door is always closed, but when I walked in I noticed that my bottle of bleach was propping open the door. I contemplated this for a second, maybe, just maybe, the wind blew the door open and somehow an animal pushed the bottle to prop open the door. No, that is too far-fetched. This sent chills through my body because that meant someone came in here through the backdoor.
I quickly, and quietly, moved around my house in case I could catch the culprit (this has happened to other volunteers before) but found no one around. I did a quick inventory of the more expensive items in my house: laptop (check), usb internet key (check), ipod (check), sunglasses (check), money (check). I was shocked and content that at the very least the thief (or intruder) didn’t take anything of real value. As I sat down in my chair I realized that I missed one item, my camera!
Alas, my camera had been stolen and I couldn’t help but feel frustrated and stupid. Frustrated, because what the hell is a kid going to do with a digital camera without the battery charger and cable? Stupid, because I shouldn’t be leaving with my backdoor wide open, even for short trips. I went outside to tell my mama what happened. She was incredibly upset and told me to go to the local police. I did. It just so happens that my neighbor is the chief of the brigade in Djakotomey so he came over and had a look around to see if there was any evidence left behind. This made me laugh because if you saw my back wall there is no way that anyone would struggle and leave footprints or handprints unless the culprit was playing in mud beforehand.
After a careful tour of the back area and surrounding field the chief came to tell me that, “After [his] observing the area, there is no evidence left behind.” I thanked him for his hard work and he went on his way. He sent one of his minions a little later to get the dimensions of my camera.
I doubt I’ll see that camera again. The worst part about this is that now I need to find another camera to take pictures of my latrines!
***UPDATE*** Bang bang bang. Bang bang bang. What time is it? Four AM? What is going on. “Oui? C’est quoi?” (Yes, what is it?) Can you please come out here for a second? Pull on some clothes and walk out. See the chief sitting in a chair, looking a bit disheveled, but content. Hello! How are you? I am good, have you been resting? Yes, thank you. I sit in the other chair. So? Well, I have not rest since I heard about your camera. I COULD NOT rest since then. Really? I am sorry, thank you for your hard work. Wondering what this was leading to. Look over at papa, dangling something in his hands. MY CAMERA?! Grab the camera, marveling at seeing it again. Papa has something else. My camera case?! Exclaim my thanks in weird primeval noises. Chief laughs. But…. How?! It is my job. Laughs again. Thank you so much! You are formidable!!! More laughing. Have a good night, know that you are in good hands here. Can’t stop smiling and have a hard time sleeping for at least thirty minutes.
Turns out the culprit stole my battery, and what do you know, my battery charger. No worries though, I think I might be able to find a replacement in Cotonou. Pretty amazing! Hopefully I can find out more about who did it and how they found it.
4 comments:
CSI: Benin.
They TOTALLY cracked the case!!!
Good luck on finding a battery and charger.
Best, Mark Loehrke (Carly's dad)
Haha, I like this story! I especially like the way you wrote the last part, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness form. I liked it so much I read it twice. What joy. :)
I agree, you should write mystery novels! I'm glad you got your camera back, I wonder if they will tell you the story behind how they got it back? Take care! D
Dave L.
amazing, you actually got it back!
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