The First Pula!

Hallelujah, the rains are finally here! This afternoon, I was working on a paper when a huge rumble rocked the room. I was confused for a minute because this is the first time I have heard thunder here. Usually sounds like that are the echos of a car or something in the barren courtyard, like the trash truck that comes every morning, warning beeps and all. But when I finally did hear the rush and patter of rain outside, I was so excited. The past week has been just brutally hot, with highs of 43 degrees Celsius (that's almost 110 Fahrenheit) during the day. There is no air conditioning in the rooms, so when we're trying to do work in our rooms we just sweat; even at night, even without any sheets, or blankets, or clothes on I still just sweat. Thrice a day cold showers have become a necessity.

But these rains are a blessing! Finally its cool outside again. I understand the Batswana love of pula (Setswana word for rain) now, because rain brings relief. I think though that this means there will be triple the number of mosquitos in a week or so, which is not welcome news. I might have to invest in a mosquito net.

A few of the American students were standing out in the rain just enjoying the coolness, which garnered a few strange looks from the locals. Some of them were watching us curiously from the balcony, perhaps thinking we were strange. All I could think about was that scene from Singing in the Rain. I was tempted to sing it a little bit, but not too much.

View of the first rain from my window

Watch out troublemakers, 'cause UB students have taken the law into their own hands

These past few days have been eventful ones for the students of University of Botswana (UB). There have been three robberies on campus. One of the thieves took the whole lock off of doors. All of the thefts resulted in mob chases and beatings of the thieves in questions. I believe that all three were caught, one even being chased miles off campus by dozens of students. Most recently last night about midnight, there was another theft in some other hostel on campus. The screaming woke me up, even though all of the commotion was half way across campus. Apparently the thief escaped into a car with some other men, where they tried to escape out the back gate, but found it closed. In desperation, they rammed the car into the gate hoping it would open, but it did not. So they ditched the car and tried to run, most of them escaping but one unlucky thief that was caught and beaten to a pulp. Students even set fire to the thieves' car, burning it to ashes. I heard that the mob wanted to kill him and could not be deterred by even the police (who are viewed as weak and ineffective), so were broken up by soldiers with tear gas. Here are some pictures (click for larger view):

I think there are a few reasons for this. But first, beating up pickpockets and thieves is a generally accepted cultural norm here. I have heard that at the bus station, if a pickpocket is caught he will desperately run towards the police station to turn himself in, rather than subject himself to the punishment of the mob's fists. In this case, the students are especially willing to punish thieves and deter future thefts themselves because of recent failures of police on campus. A few months ago, there was a dance on campus called, "The Freshers Ball." That night, there were lots of certain undesirables on campus going around and causing trouble, robbing people and raping women. Even right in front of everyone in the stadium where the ball was taking place, there were gangs of men raping women. When anyone tried to intervene, they were beaten off. So students called the police, but the police never came and the security guards on campus were not to be found. Because of their lack of response that night, the police have lost the trust of the students. Hopefully soon things will settle down, or at least those seeking to steal will go elsewhere for their prizes.