Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Crazy Day

I started fourth period with twenty-two kids and ended it with fifteen. And they didn't leave all at once - oh, no. Every three to five minutes the office would call, or a sibling would come to the door, or a parent would call a kid's cellphone (apparently someone told the kids to turn on their cellphones this morning because there was unrest forecast for today). Of course as more and more of their classmates left, the ones who remained got agitated. It wasn't really an environment conducive to learning!

There was looting and mob violence all around the city today. At lunch time the cafeteria workers were listening to the radio; one had a radio held between her ear and her shoulder as she was dishing up rice. In the early afternoon a business right across the street was looted as people on our campus watched. The police showed up just as the looters were finishing carrying everything away that they could lift. As school ended probably two thirds of our students had already been picked up, but there are still some at school whose parents have not been able to get there yet. Roads are blocked and people are calling ahead to make sure that their route is safe.

No school tomorrow. We hope by the end of the week we'll be back in school, but only time will tell.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will you do more posts on this subject? I can see why people would feel desperate, but I have a hard time understanding the logic of responding with violent protest. (Typical westerner, huh? But at least I'm asking...)

Glad you can lay low tomorrow.

Ruth said...

There are several different things going on.

First, many, many people are really suffering. They are hungry and they see no future for themselves or their children. People like that demonstrate peacefully - as is their right - and express their legitimate frustration and despair.

But there are also people who are taking advantage of the situation to loot and steal. These people I saw today were not Jean Valjeans stealing a loaf of bread because they were hungry. They were taking 5 gallon water bottles and emptying them out, taking ice from the machine and throwing it in the road. They were going from one store to another and breaking all the windows. They were carrying away furniture and even the fire extinguishers. I don't know what all their motives were for this but clearly the motive wasn't to make food prices go down.

Without exception, the people from this country with whom I have talked have expressed their disgust with those who are doing these things. They aren't improving the situation of high food prices and a difficult life - they are making the situation worse. Most people here are ashamed that the world is seeing these actions and associating this country with violence and destruction.

This is not a violent country. Looters and destroyers do not represent this country any more than serial killers represent the United States.

theorivas said...

Stay safe, Ruth. God bless you all with peace and protection, as you wait out this round of looting.

Anonymous said...

National Political Service issued this riot warning: "Cloudy with a chance of unrest. Conditions are ripe for an upswelling of violence." Yikes!