One Man's Trash, or How to Punish Thieves

Something I have noticed since I've been here is that there isnt much that is new. Things are used until they are used up, and everything has a utility value. I have been into three bookstores since I have been here, and NONE of them have had very many books. Which makes me sad on some level, because I love books, and I would love for everyone to have access to all the books I love. Not the case. And the books they do have are all used. There are a few (six or eight) new books in the history section at the University Bookstore, which is to the bookstore at santa cruz what Motel Six is to the Ritz. It really feels like what the rest of the world doesnt want gets sent here, through charity chanels or however it gets here. And the thing is that this is how life works here, so it feels right. If I turned a corner in Cape Coast and saw a Borders or even Logos, I would look first for the security guard standing in front making sure the place isnt stolen, and then for the used books, because there is no way there is enough money to support that kind of establishment in Ghana, even in Accra. It makes me think a lot about how we live back home, and the ammount of extra money we have to spend on luxury items. Things are cheaper here, because they have to be, but there also isnt as much to go around. So, while everyone is invited to what there is, people get a little weird about their stuff.

The boys on our program live at Legon Hall, a co-ed residence hall that is close to Volta. They live in Annex A at Legon, which is a six-story rectangular building with a row of rooms on one side, balconies open to the air. The boys live on the fourth floor, mixed in with Ghanaian men, and the water is on there on average one day per week. Last year one of the boys on the program (drunk) decided it would be a great plan to light a fire in the bathroom trashcan, since the lights were out. There is no sprinkler system, no fire alarm, no fire escape, so when someone smelled smoke and called "Fire!" people fled the building any way they could, which included jumping off the fourth floor balcony. When it was discovered a) who set the fire, and b) that it was meant to be a prank, the woman in charge of the program [an AMAZING historian], Aunty Irene, had to come in her car to rescue the boys and take them to live at her house for the remaining (month or so) duration of the program, because the Ghanaians wanted to enforce their own justice, which would probably not have involved cops, trials, academic sanctions, or any of that. It probably would have involved physical violence. But I did not realize what exactly that would ential until the other night, when Michael was over for tea, and he told me a story:

Mornings at Legon hall are ususally as noisy, if not more so, than mornings at Volta. People wake up early here in order to get everything done in their day (things like laundry or cooking, for instance, take about 300% more time here than they do in the states). In addition, Legon has been blessed lately with an early wake-up call from a preacher with a bullhorn who treats them to sermons every day at 5:30 am whether they need saving or not. So there is a generally high ammount of noise starting pretty early in the day. But the morning of our conversation, Mike was awakened by shouts that started on the ground floor or the first floor and got louder. Paul (student guide) shares a room with him and Tristan, and he went out on the balcony and yelled down to see what was up. He came in all excited, pulled on his sandles, and ran downstairs, calling as he did so, "They caught a thief!" Mike and Tristan moved out onto the balcony and looked down on the parkinglot/pavement below. As they watched, they saw heads popping out over balconies all over the building. After a few minutes more of shouting, they saw a group of about ten Legon residents pulling another Ghanaian out of the building and onto the pavement where everyone could see. They surrounded him in a circle, and over the next few minute the circle grew to fifteen, twenty-five, fifty guys, all in a circle surrounding one man.

Some people picked up sticks, and began whacking the guy, whose shirt and shoes had been removed, all over his body. Others took off their belts to join in, and the group kept growing and continued to administer a beating, whaling on the thief, who cowered on the ground. Someone picked up a table, with the obvious intention of dropping it on his head, but was dissuaded. After twenty minutes or so, two campus security guards showed up in a taxi from the campus entrance, and pushed back the circle a little wider. One of them bent down to speak to the thief while the other held back his attackers, and at one point the guard slapped the thief on the head. After parading him around naked for a while, the comotion died down, and when Paul returned to the room, Mike asked him about it. He said that this is a pretty common punishment for thieves caught, and that if he had been caught at Commonwealth Hall (known for the highest academic standards on campus and the high level of partying/shenanigans that goes along with that) he might have been lynched. As in killed. In a place where resources are scarce, and where authorities can not be counted on for whatever reason, and in a place where community is so important, I can see where sins against the community are punished using what ammounts to vigilante justice.