A morning lesson

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to a crash and yelling outside my apartment. When I looked out the window I saw a couple people running down the street but couldn’t tell what happened. Sleeping is not a talent of mine so I ended up staying awake hearing the bodas start doing their rounds, a group singing in the street at about 6 am (I have no idea why) and the call to prayer.

At 7:30 I was on the phone with Traci in the US when I heard angry yells and painful screams. I looked out my window and saw about 50 people, mainly adults but also a few school children, surrounding 5 teenage boys who were laying curled up on the ground. I watched and realized that the mob was actually beating these boys with their hands, feet, sticks, and belts. The younger boys in the group were screaming and crying while the older ones were pleading with their attackers to stop. Neighbors came outside on their balconies to watch with bored expressions while I watched, pretty horrified, from my apartment window.

After about 10 minutes the beating stopped but the crowd remained surrounding these boys as they continued to lay on the ground until a police pick up truck pulled up and pulled the five boys into the cab with the crowd resuming their hitting and kicking as the boys were yanked up. Their shirts had all been ripped off by the crowd at some point and blood was running down their faces and backs but the injuries didn’t look life threateningly serious. Once the pick up pulled away the crowd left, continuing wherever they’d been headed as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

View off my balcony this morning

I went to the shop below my apartment and asked the friendly shopkeeper what happened. She said the boys, ages 11-16, had been caught by the street cleaners this morning stealing airtime and other small things from people’s houses. The street cleaners had chased them and once they caught them all brought them back so that the people they stole from could beat them. Seeing my appalled look she laughed, “You all don’t like beatings do you? How else are they going to learn they can’t do that?”