I came back from my Friday morning run to worried friends. One of the girls on our program had also been out running and had been mugged. She ran the same route every morning at 5:30 AM, but never ran more than 10 minutes away from campus. Apparently, she had passed two Tanzanian men on a busy main road. They ran beside her for a minute, then grabbed her around the neck, took her ipod, and pushed her into a ditch. She returned, bruised and nervous. For the rest of the day, she worried about every Tanzanian man we passed.
We’ve been on edge for a while now. Last week, a group of European girls were robbed at machete point walking back to the dorm at night. Thieves rob Mzungus because they think we have money, but also because they know many Mzungus fear yelling Mwizi (thief) more than they fear losing their belongings.
We were all warned that crowds of Tanzanians routinely beat accused “Mwizis.” A week after we arrived at the university, a crowd beat a man to death on campus before the police arrived. That week, we had dinner at our program coordinator’s house and her family calmly discussed the matter. They were surprised that beatings like this don’t routinely occur in the
Knowing this, even if there were people to help around, I don’t think my friend would have called “Mwizi.” The choice is an ipod or a lifetime of guilt. She was more scared of the physical threat than upset about the loss of property. But dangerous or not, this is our home for the next three months and we have to keep living. I’ve stopped running off-campus, but I won’t give up my on-campus morning runs or teaching English to local craftspeople at night. We’ll still go out some nights in groups. I’m careful and aware, but I still trust most people (except Tanzanian men asking for my number)
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