I paid him no attention. Suddenly he opened the passenger door, grabbed my red handbag lying on the front seat, and dashed into the market. I initially thought he wanted to do a carjacking, or was he just trying to make me uncomfortable by getting into the car? Could he be mentally deranged? I screamed “voleur” and ran after him with the mangoes, which I threw at him before he made the corner, thereby getting out of sight. Yes, you might be thinking I was careless leaving the bag there, fyi, it was hidden beneath that same seat until when I thought I had finished shopping!
I went back to the car, got in and blocked the doors. A crowd was already gathering and I didn’t want any of that. Good news is, in all that briskness, he didn’t quite see my mobile phone on the same seat, I think a scarf partially covered it. So I called my dad to tell him what happened, thereby cancelling our appointment that day.
I drove to the nearest police station in Mokolo to make a police report. As I drove off, my left leg started trembling. It is only when I got to the police station that I felt the real fright and shock of what had just happened. Yes, I did cry for a while, dreading how I will start making a new ID card, as well as all my vehicle registration documents including road worthiness certificate...
The policeman said it will cost 3.000frs to establish the police report, I had just 2.500frs, he said its ok. I later on found out the stamp on the report cost just 1.000frs. No comment. No: Comment: where did the 1.500frs go? I gave details of the bag’s content and the report was established. I called a friend to meet me in the station, and he did.
The policeman told me not to worry (yeah right, easier said than done), he added that in a worse case scenario, I may have experienced an arm pointed at me, and in a best case scenario, I just might find the bag with all the contents in tact (except the valuables). The officer didn’t understand, this was the first time anyone took stuff from me!
He actually told me to return in the afternoon to the same spot where the theft occurred and ask around, I will be informed where the perpetrators usually drop off the bag after taking out all valuables. Suddenly I saw a flicker of hope. Since I was already there, I decided to do that immediately.
I did just as he said, and here’s the interesting part: I was told that a guy with a red bag came a few minutes after I left asking “where is the lady whose bag was snatched”. Since they didn’t find me, they took it away.
My friend and I searched around the escape route for a little bit and another person advised that we check with the nearby radio station. We went there and the receptionist said: “...yes we received a bag this morning and the contents belonged to...Ntemgwa...!” that was it, I was SOOO RELIEVED that I found the bag, she brought it out, I checked the contents and I said everything was in tact, unless of course the money and fuel voucher. She added “10.000frs, withdrawal fee”. I tried to argue and realised whatever was still in that bag had more value than the amount requested. I however negotiated for 5.000frs and I got the bag, went back home, happily.
Lessons learnt:
- Not all thieves have evil intentions, some are opportunists who are just hungry;
- There exist organised (petty) crime in the Mokolo market, beware in all you do whenever you find yourself there, organised because all they want is your money, and everyone around knows where you can find your bag after the incident, who knows if there is more to the whole setup than meets the eyes?
- It is normal to be attacked in such crowded markets, the policemen played down the whole drama, wondering y I was feeling bad (at all), yes there is no service to take care of trauma victims in the police station since it is “normal” to be victimised like that;
- I don’t think God was punishing me for not going to church that Sunday morning like my uncle and dad suggested, He merely made me understand the above lessons, besides I don’t believe God punishes you if you miss service, She blesses you not because of something you have done or haven’t done, but because of WHO He is: LOVE. Rain doesn’t fall only on “good” people.
- That day was All Saints’ Day, may they continue to watch over us.
- I miss those mangoes and I have nothing against them;
- I thank God for the experience.
9 comments:
Ashia T, I can so emphatize with you. The same thing happened to me in Douala a few years back. I flew from Malabo to buy a very expensive printer & other things for a client, bought the printer somewhere left in in the back seat of the car (locked!)and went to Tsekenis to get the rest of the stuff. On my return, found that the printer had been stolen, In broad daylight on a busy street and NO ONE, not even the girl selling groundnuts opposite where the car was parked had seen anything! I was dumbfounded. Anyways I was told to return in the evening by some guys selling nearby who were going to go to the head of the thieves in search of the printer.
So I returned that evening and lo and behold they had found the exact same printer, only this time I had to buy it back from the thieves!
T. I'm sure glad nothing happened to you. I can imagine the trauma setting in afterwards. Ashia. Nahsang, that is horrible. Buying your stuff back from thieves.
Nah, yes, that is really infuriating, re-buying ur stuff. Christine, we must find the silver lining underneath every dark cloud! Thx!
T dear, u experienced what I experienced 3x: twice in Bambili and once on nouvelle route Bastos. Am not @all surprised it's considered a 'normal' thing now. Great attitude u had in staying +ve & thank God for the blessing of finding ur docs (I never found mine the second time it happened despite looking all morning & all afternoon in the farms below nouvelle route bastos). Somehow, I didnt feel any ill toward the thieves. I re-did my docs, house keys etc (fortunately the company wrote off the 150,000frs company money that was taken), and went on happily, after learning several of the lessons u outlined. And of course, thanking God as always...they must've used a knife or maybe a pair of scissors to cut off my handbag from my shoulder (I only realized this later when I noticed the scarf I had around my neck was abt a quarter gone - neatly cut-off; worse may have happened. Hope u're no longer shaking:) kiss kiss; will call u 2morow...Leks
Tindong,
Ashiayah. Can imagine the confusion and trauma that incident must have put you in. All the same, u weren't hurt and u got back ur docs! Thank God for His endless mercies!
To those of us who have been victims of such, another reminder of lessons learnt and definitely an eye opener to those who've never been there but potential victims...
Many thanks y'all! Lets keep learning each day, we are each others' keeper!
With December appaching, things will only get worse. Thank God you lived through it, and for the lessons. We can't be smart enough for those guys, but we can be a little bit more careful.
T, no worries . things will get beter for sure. That country e small stories den too much.
Hi T,
Really this was your most exciting blog i ever read ... or perhaps i have not been reading all your stuff... It was filled with much suspense,the English was superb, the style was excellent i almost felt I was reading an article published in one of London's famous magazines..And to crown it all the end was FANTASTIC....
Actually in the UK, and London especially where i live, we have the CCTV cameras almost every where and it is that severe that even dropping a sweet wrapper can appear in the camera's eyes and before you take the
next bend for a cup of coffee you may see a gentleman in front of you handing over to you what you would not want to receive.....A FINE...If these cameras can locate a sweet wrapper on the floor what more of people? CCTV cameras help us a great deal to locate these thieves and in such a case like yours the thief could be caught in the camera. I appreciate the fact that you don't have CCTV cameras almost everywhere as we do over here but as your story insinuates, some of your cameras are people who do exactly what our cameras here would do ...And you know what? the bad side of it is our cameras here are too expensive to run and use lots of energy. These make them environmentally unfriendly...But yours is quite cheap to run , do not use much energy and is so environmentally friendly..its GREEN...
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