The Wrong Move

I'm not very good at chess. I always end up making a move with some brilliant plan in mind. And right at that instant when it's too late, I see that I've just given up my queen for nothing. I had one of those moments in Nairobi.

I was walking down the road at 8 PM, which is a pretty unsafe thing to do. I figured it was just 15 minutes to the spot where I could pick up my matatu and I've walked that road dozens of times (in daylight hours). I was being especially vigilant and walking rather briskly, even trying to stay close to traffic so that no one would have the opportunity to jump out of the bushes and grab me. I really pride myself on being able to judge situations.

Being vigilant is a bit tiring. After 12 minutes of my walk, I started thinking about the fact that when I got back to Upper Hill I was going to talk with my niece on Skype video. I've never had the bandwidth for a good conversation and I haven't met her in person (she was 8 months old at that time and she is so adorable) so I was really excited about being able to call her.

Just before I was about to turn the corner for my matatu stop, I hopped over a ditch and I realized that I had given away my queen. There were two men who had come out of nowhere and they shoved me right into the ditch I had hopped over.

One man took my bag.

Then he went through my pockets.

He took my wallet.

He took my phone.

The other man stood over us.

The piece of wood he was wielding as a weapon didn't seem too intimidating.

But if I had tried to move they could have kicked the s*** out of me then and there.

It was miserable.

Absolutely miserable.

All I could think was:

Can't people see what's happening?

Why isn't anyone doing anything to stop this?

It was over in less than a minute. I had the presence of mind to ask them for matatu fare so that I could get back to Upper Hill, and they left me with 50 shillings. I thought about the one holding the piece of wood. It was probably the size of a doorstop. I was pretty sure that he was on miraa or something stronger based on how erratic he seemed. So at least the proceeds of my belongings are in part supporting Nairobi's drug industry. I thought about the fact that the terrain was pretty slippery and I could have probably taken away the one man's footing really easily, but my prospects for escape weren't too good, so it was probably good that I didn't make things worse for myself.

I took stock of things and noticed that my keys were still in my pocket, so I was really glad that I hadn't lost that (my keychain flash drive is a handy gadget and I also have an IDDS logo on there that has a lot of sentimental value). I also still had my passport in my passport carrier hidden safely in my trousers. I mean, they were good at what they were doing, but they could only be so thorough if they were going to keep moving. Besides, they got my wallet*, my smartphone, my old phone, my iPod, my Kindle, my netbook**, my backpack*** and a few other random effects that I was carrying with me. Now, I never carry that much with me, and it was just a fluke that I needed to bring so much with me that day. Had I some shred of common sense, I certainly would have taken a taxi.

Physically I was fine. My back was a bit sore from where I had landed and I was really uncomfortable in my damp jeans since the ground was moist. In terms of value, I lost a lot. But that wasn't really what bothered me. I was concerned about all of the little things. I couldn't call my friends in Kenya to say good-bye to them before flying to Ghana. They got my driver's license which is certainly useless to them and which I regularly use and do not look forward to replacing. They took away my ability to check email, and I had lots of work to get done (and also a few blog posts that I had wanted to put online). They took away my pictures. I had a lot of books on my Kindle and I wasn't traveling with any physical books. And I wasn't going to have that video call with my niece.

I was really glad that I was staying at Upper Hill. Rich and Jessie take really good care of people in those situations and they helped me get everything sorted out. I went to the police station and filled out a report. They were pretty confused when I tried to explain to them that I had an electronic book. I don't expect they'll catch the thieves. I mean, they didn't even ask me for any kind of physical description, just the most basic notes on what, where and when. At the end, they told me that I should really be more safe in Nairobi and that I was lucky that I didn't get worse. I had to agree with them there.

* I had about $350 in cash in USD and Kenyan Shillings since I had the money that I needed for while I was in Ghana as well.
**Although with the damage to the screen, that one was probably worth about as much as the computer case I had.
***Joke is on them with that one too. The zipper was broken and I never could get rid of the smell of sunscreen inside of there.