Robbery

I have deliberately held this post back from publication until I travelled home in order not to scare or upset anyone, but I have to report that unfortunately we were robbed in the night on Sunday 7th March.

One by one, the volunteers at the house went to bed, each of us forgetting to lock the first floor balcony door at the front of the house. It was a momentary lapse in security consciousness and at 4am I was woken by Mrs Bagley, who had been woken by Vivian. The robber came in and stole her laptop, which was out on the floor in her room (not a particularly smart place to put it). Vivian's bedroom door was open which isn't very sensible either but it was a warm night. Vivian woke as the robber tried to take her phone as well and then he must have panicked and run out over the balcony to leave with the laptop in hand.

Although I argued that the responsibility must be shared, Mrs Bagley seemed to place the blame with myself and Callum as we were the last people awake that night. On my part, I went to bed at 10:30 knowing Callum was still watching TV. I wasn't sure whether Lester was up too, as he often watches TV until about midnight.

Callum and I were faced with a representative from Projects Abroad who asked all parties if they were happy with the living arrangements (which was a bit harsh) and with the security at the house. Everyone agreed that things were fine and on we go.

I am critical of the way that the Projects Abroad representative handled this situation. I arrived home the next day and we had a meeting around a table. He had spoken to the others earlier in the day when the crime was reported, but he hadn't bothered to get mine and Callum's side of the story beforehand and I think that was unprofessional. Although he portrayed diplomacy and he seemed to really take on board my thoughts in particular, I sensed that we were being treated as guilty but I have to say that Mrs Bagley in particular has her mind made up on many things without all of the information and thought put in. On this occasion, she received Vivian's story first in the middle of the night and made her mind up accordingly, which I find disappointing.

It all seems perverse considering that the back door doesn't lock at all but the Bagleys have complete faith in the dogs to prevent a break in from the rear, despite them only being able to raise alarm with a few barks. Should you be desperate to, breaking into this place would be absolutely simple. Some of the windows have cracked panes, they are all single glazed. The window by Callum's bed is even held into its frame with masking tape for goodness sake. I've already blogged about the crazy front gate and the balcony itself locks with a simple bolt through both openable doors.

Does it also mean that we have to check the entire house at night? I've gone downstairs to get water quite late before to find the side door wide open without me knowing whether the Bagleys are in bed or not. On that occasion I locked the door and went to bed. Was that my responsibility? When you are a guest you don't wander around someone's house checking they've locked everything at night. The volunteers use the upstairs of the house mainly and there is a sign by the balcony asking for it to be locked at night, fair enough. But it doesn't state that the last person up is responsible. Also, myself and Callum weren't even using the balcony that evening.

During the meeting I made my points about the responsibility being all of ours, and I didn't sense any direct blame from Vivian, but the overall feeling was one of being given a bit of a ticking off which made things a bit uncomfortable. It's not helped by the fact that Vivian's English isn't amazing and I'm never sure what she, or Marjam, are thinking. We don't interact with the German girls much anyway and they're not outgoing so no damage has been done to friendships. Much later on I found out that Callum was unhappy that the girls sat and offered nothing to the meeting, be it either blame or defence towards us.

I have to be fair though and say that the Bagleys have been fine with us since, Les in particular, who is often quite easy-going and thinks these things happen...and have in the past when a similar failure to lock the balcony resulted in their stereo being stolen.

As well as being extra careful that the balcony is locked each evening, Callum and I now place a coin filled drinks bottle on our bedroom door handle so that we would be woken up by the noise of it falling should our door be tried in the night.

Despite this incident, I don't feel in danger in any way and I'm still sleeping fine! Oddly, I'm actually glad it's out of the way and if it happens again I know what to expect. These people are not violent and they don't want to hurt anyone. They are just desperate people who have nothing. Theft is a way of life here and many people rely on it to survive. I am, however, glad that I have nothing valuable here with me!