Country Mouse in the Big City

It was bound to happen, really. Pretty much everyone I know has had a phone stolen. But this is the first time my little naive bubble of security has been popped like this. I was robbed today. And I cried.

And honestly, I think I left my street smarts behind when I left the house today. I was heading to an internet cafe with my bag- in my bag was my laptop with all attachments, my cell phone, and about $25. I had just bought an ice cream cone and was heading out to catch a bus, when this taxi carrying a passenger pulled over and the driver waved me over.

Now let me explain here- I suck at recognizing faces. I don't know why, it's some sort of genetic malfunction or something. I have to see a face several times before it will stick, and if I'm searching for somebody in a crowd- even if it's someone I'm really close to like Mus or my own mom- I will search for what they were wearing that morning or their haircut, and not their face. I'm no good at recognizing faces.

This is a big problem in Ghana, where I meet tons of people everyday who expect me to remember them, and where the prevalence of hair extensions and weaves means that a woman's hair length can change dramatically from one day to the next. So when this taxi driver greeted me as he did, I thought he was one of the taxi drivers we knew. Mus's sister has several regulars that she uses and who I've met, and we even live with a taxi driver here in Accra, and he's given us a free lift once. So I thought this driver was one of these characters, who would certainly recognize me even though I have no idea.

He offered me a free lift, and I got in. This is the absolute first time I've ever accepted a free ride without Mus being with me. I always turn them down, and often times people get offended, but this time, I really thought the guy wasn't a stranger. Everything was fine until we got to a fairly deserted part of the road. Then he pulled over and told me to get out and pick another taxi, he wasn't going my way after all. The whole time I had my bag in my lap with my hands on it, like always. I leaned over to open the door of the taxi, but it was stuck.

The other passenger leaned over to help me, but after a minute or so he got really aggressive. He leaned on me, pinning my arms to my chest, and the driver kept saying "Open it! Open it!' I had my ice cream and was trying my best not to have the dessert topple onto the guy next to me, even while he was cruching me. FInally I said, "Ouch, get off! Let's get out the other side!" and tried shoving the guy off of me., but the wouldn't listen. Then the door opened and I stumbled out, and immdiately realized my bag felt light. Without moving, I unzipped my bag (which was actually zipped up, surprisingly) and saw that Adam's laptop was gone. I looked up. The taxi was gone, too.

When I arrived home, I found the cell phone and my optical mouse were gone, too- although they left me my $25 and the power cord for the laptop (which has no battery).

So I arrived home, pretty shaken up, but all of Mus's family were out. Mus was at the dentist, his mom had gone to the mosque, his sister was working, and his dad was in Obo planning a funeral. The only people home were the landlady and Sweet Mother, neither of whom speak English. Mus's house doesn't have a landline, and I needed to call his sister as she was expecting me to meet her at work, so I asked the landlady in Twi if I could call Hamida with her phone.

She called Mus's dad instead, and we went from there. Before she left I noticed her looking at me very oddly- almost as if I were crazy- and she told me stiffly in Twi that everything would be okay. Mus met her on the street as he was coming home, and she told him to hurry home because I was crying about his tooth being pulled and because he was taking so long at the dentist. Mus wasn't sure if she was joking or what. Then he met Sweet Mother in the yard, and she told him that both of my parents had died and I was sick. So Mus rushed into the house in a panic not sure what to expect. He looked almost relieved when I told him I had been robbed but I wasn't hurt.

So to sum up today:
I lost:
- my sister's cell phone
- my brother's computer
- my mouse
- a lot of work and data
- and a little bit of pride