I'm at an internet cafe in Rwanda right now, but I feel like if I don't post this now I never will, so here is a brief update on security issues on campus:


Sunday: One of my friends was almost robbed just off the main campus near her homestay house at dusk. She sprayed the guys with mace and screamed until her neighbors chased them away.
Monday: Two of my had their locked room and closet broken into. The police were unhelpful, ineffective, and thought they were the Scooby gang solving a mystery.
Tuesday: The police try to arrest my friends Ugandan boyfriend for living in the dorm in the middle of the night. He shouldn't have been staying there, but had been for weeks and other boyfriends were staying there. The difference: he's black and the other guys are white. You wouldn't think that a black man sleeping with a white woman would be such a threat in Africa. They actually asked my friend if she wasn't scared that he would beat her. They also didn't have to wake us all up and scare the poor kid who doesn't speak Swahili half to death.
Friday: I had tickets to a Boy II Men concert, but they didn't show up because one was sick. I never got a refund. (Not related to security, but a pretty upsetting occurence nonetheless).

Campus just didn't feel safe without Tanzanian students there. Walking home from teaching English at the carver's market at night, I used to know I could shout and people would come running. But after the students left, it was totally different, empty, quiet and intimidating.

I'm really glad to have finished my finals and traveling through Rwanda. Stay tuned for a post about Rwanda someday...