This is a whiny blog rather than an interesting or informative one. I am officially (today, anyway) ready to come home.
Yesterday, our cleaning lady let someone else into my apartment to clean. Apparently someone else came alone, was left alone in my house, and stole my Canadian cell phone. My $300, year old but in perfect shape Canadian cell phone. The one that people from home were using to text me, because for some reason Rwandan phones cannot receive Canadian text messages. So now, an important way for me to communicate with friends at home has been completely shut off. Not to mention all the pictures and videos I had of Leah on it, and the fact that I'm dead broke and can't afford to get another, either here or in Canada. Luckily I still have my Rwandan phone, although it's getting to the end of its life, I think. But at least this way people from home can still call me.
I am depressed and upset and just feel really violated. And there's no way it was a coincidence, which makes it worse. I've said nothing the other times things have gone missing from my house, including 50$US, because I figured it really didn't matter - they were just things, it was just money, and if it was making someone else's life better, then I'd just deal. But this is much worse, because it's cut me off from people I love. The worst part is that even if I can get the actual phone back (apparently the network here is able to trace phones through serial numbers? I don't get it, and doubt it will work since my phone was still locked to a Canadian network), my SIM card has probably been tossed out by now, which leaves me with more than two months left with a lot less communication with home.
I know these things happen everywhere, and it's life - but it's really broken my trust in people I've spent a lot of time and effort trying to get to know. It goes to show what I've been thinking a lot about lately - no matter what I do here, I'm always going to be the muzungu outsider and there's always someone who's waiting to get something off me. It's depressing to realise I'm living here another two months when I feel so distrustful and upset.
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4 comments:
Oh, Cass, I cannot begin to imagine how violated you must feel that your trust was betrayed AND your communication with family and friends cut off. It would be wonderful if your phone were found but I suspect you are right in believing that its return is unlikely. Is there anything we here in Canada can do to 'top up' your Rwandise phone? Grandma Cotton enjoyed your blog, especially the stories about no marshmallows on the sweet potatoes and the meeting the elephant. I also saved some of your photos to my HD to show her. Let's pray there are some happier moments ahead for you.
I FEEL YOUR PAIN. 13 months ago; Southern Sudan; iPod - the only source of anything to do at night after the solar power ran out - fell into pit latrine; three weeks left of my time there. I really thought I wasn't going to make it. I am so, so sorry.
(But don't just let the stealing go! They are only things, yes, but stealing is stealing, and while there is something to be said for holding lightly to our possessions, allowing ourselves to be robbed is not the solution to income inequality. Have you confronted the person who let the person in? Sometimes things are trackable that way.)
One possibility - can you receive messages on your MTN phone if they are sent from skype? For some countries, that works when texts sent from mobiles in North America do not. I can send texts to Sudan from skype, for example, but not from my US phone.
I hope things get better!
Dear Cass:
You must be very upset indeed having trust in someone and the friend betrays your friendship with theft. How are you coping with all this? Has time between the theft and now make it easier for you to accept? If I were in your shoes I would book the next flight home to your loved ones. It is hard for me to even hear that happening to you. It only takes 1 bad apple to sour all the other apples in the basket. Your circle of close friends there in Kigali must be furious about this happening to their friend from Canada. There is nothing I can say to cheer you up at a time like this except to say, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Lots of Love, Uncle Dave.
Carole and Dave - thanks for the comments from home, always appreciated. Nice to know people are reading, especially when I'm having a bad day! I have finally gotten the paperwork from the police (an ordeal!) about my phone that the provider here needs in order to trace it; I brought it into MTN's office but of course, it's a weekend. Customer service, when it exists in Kigali, disappears over the weekend. Such is life!
I'm feeling much better about it over all. I was quite angry and upset at first but I guess, really, when it comes down to it... it's a phone. And it's two months without getting texts from home. Not the end of the world and I'll find a way to get another phone when I get home.
Amazed, I think the iPod in a latrine may be worse! And much more... icky. I've tried getting information from the woman who let someone in, but the language barrier is a big one - my Kinyarwanda is mostly suited for social situations, not confrontation (actually, that's not true - I have a good stockpile of such words, but none appropriate for this). Maybe something will come out of MTN's tracing system but no held breath here. Skype messages do show up; unfortunately a lot of my friends are Skype-impaired! I love your blog, by the way - I have a secret addiction to blogs and a new one to add to my reading list is always welcome!
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