Are there any countries where Black men are treated well by the police?

Peace Corps is very particular about what we write on our blogs. Since we are representatives of the United States government our freedom of speech is limited.  Basically we can’t say anything extremely negative about the country we are placed in.   So I am going to choose my words carefully so that I don’t get in trouble.  I am simply going to recount the details of what happened today and if my loyal readers interpret facts as indicating government corruption, etc. that is not my fault or intention.  There are some parallels to America, so this entry is just to let you learn more about my experience living here.  

Today, my friend Peter and I went to town to buy some groceries.   When we left the store and turned onto the main road, a police officer stopped us and told us to pull over, so we did.  The road was pretty empty, but that is common on a Sunday evening, especially when it is raining.  Little did we know, the Vice President was in Mbeya and we had turned on his route.  Of course there were no signs, no cones, no excessive number of police officers, or anything to indicate that an important political leader was nearby.  We made an honest mistake.  But the police officer claimed that we were interrupting a government route and possibly planning to overthrow the government, so police made us go to the police station after the Vice President had passed.  I still don’t fully understand what we did wrong.  I can’t even imagine a similar situation occurring in America.  It is painstakingly obvious when the President or Vice President is in town.

When we arrived at the police station there was a daladala (small bus) driver who had also made the mistake of turning on the main road while the Vice President was nearby.  He was in handcuffs and the police said that he was trying to assassinate the Vice President and overthrow the government.  Although they found no weapons on the man, and he maintained that he just made an honest mistake, the police officers threw him on the ground (in handcuffs) and took turns beating him.  Some used their clubs, while other police officers preferred to kick him in the face and abdomen with their boots.  There were about ten officers and they each took their turn.  This happened in the middle of the police station right at the front desk where Peter and I were waiting.  Watching this man be brutally beaten by police for making a wrong turn was difficult and hearing his screams was too much for me to bear.  Even though it was raining, I ran outside, stood by a tree, and cried.  I know that this happens to Black men in America far more often than I would like to admit, but my mind can understand it better because of the prevalence of racism, prejudice, and stereotyping in America.  But in Tanzania, everyone is black.  And I just couldn’t watch a man who looks exactly like the police officers being beaten for what I perceived as a minor offense.  Excessive police brutality is something that I cannot easily stomach.

Meanwhile, Peter is talking to the police officers about his crime. They said they wanted to beat him like the dala dala driver, but luckily Peter has a lot of friends at the police station and an uncle who works closely with the President of Tanzania, so he was spared physical punishment. After a lot of police harassment and intimidation, there was a lot talking and negotiation. After an hour, they let us pay a fine and leave.  I should also note that the fine was much more than most Tanzanians could afford to pay and I am not sure what happened to the dala dala driver. As we walked back to Peter’s car I could still hear him screaming in agony.  Warm tears streamed down my face as we drove away.

An ET Week...

In Peace Corps lingo, “ET” means Early Termination and there are weeks and sometimes months where I am sure a majority of PCVs have contemplated leaving.  I love Tanzania and the people in this country, but there are just some days when I miss living in a highly developed nation and the American culture that I am used to: flaws and all.  Sometimes I just do not understand the society I am living in and must remind myself why I became a Peace Corps volunteer in the first place.  This past week was just difficult…let me recap.

• Last Sunday morning I watched a Tanzanian man be brutally beaten for robbing my friends bar (see previous blog post).

• On Monday and Tuesday I was sick with the flu.  I had a terrible headache, sore throat, nausea, and was extremely dizzy.  While attempting to teach my form one students I almost fell over. The rainy season, combined with the cold of living in the mountains and the lack of insulation in my house has not been a great for my health.  Of course Tanzanians want to offer their health advice, but for some reason hearing that I should go for a run for an hour didn’t seem like the ideal solution.   Considering the fact that a large number of Tanzanians do not eat a balanced diet, drink entirely too much alcohol, sleep without nets in spite of the fact that malaria is a huge killer in this country, don’t use condoms in spite of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, drink dirty water, and wash hands without soap to kill germs/bacteria, and other things, I certainly did not feel like taking health advice from villagers. Perhaps that was my American elitism kicking in, but I am not the friendliest person when I am sick.  I just wanted to sleep….

• On Wednesday I watched my Academic Master beat several students with sticks for not doing his book-keeping assignment because they didn’t understand what he taught them.  (I should add as a side note that he does not consistently teach his classes.)  It is against Tanzanian law for male teachers to beat female students when a female teacher is present. I simply reminded him of this law and then had to listen to his rant about how women shouldn’t be teachers because they are too weak to discipline students and that’s why the male teachers must do it.  Then he said even though it was the law, most Tanzanian schools don’t enforce it.  I soon had a “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” moment and reminded myself of my father…  Then my Second Master told me that the schedule for the year had changed because of the national Census.  So now the school year won’t end until December 15^th and the month long break I was looking forward to in June will no longer happen. I wish I could understand why the government waited until the school year had already started to make these changes when they knew there would be a national Census this year. 

• On Thursday, I had a conversation with some students and told them that when I was in secondary school I played basketball and lacrosse.  They started laughing then said, “Madame, we don’t believe you. You are too fat to play sports.” I know I should be used to being called fat by now, but it is just a bit of a blow to my self-esteem.

• On Friday, I had a fight with my Academic Master.  In Tanzania, people are indirect and if you have a problem with somebody you are not supposed to be confrontational.  Personally I hate this about the culture.  It is the opposite of how we are taught to communicate in Tanzania and I just don’t trust it.  So I was very American on Friday.  My Academic Master tries to guilt trip me into doing excessive amounts of work and I had finally had enough.  When I went to the wedding and missed a form one welcome that the students had planned last minute, he told me that I was not a dedicated teacher and that the students think I don’t care about them.  I wanted to tell him that I show I care by actually coming to school and teaching when I am supposed to (but of course I couldn’t say this…).  On Friday, he was telling me that I needed to supervise student debates every week after school and write reports on the debate.  I told him he could do it himself since he left every day after lunch, didn’t teach his classes regularly, and did no extra-curricular activities with students.  The conversation did not go well...

• On Friday evening, my boyfriend Peter drove to my village to watch our schools football game.  The students lost to a school that was deep in another village and blamed the referee.  Truthfully, they just played badly and wanted someone to blame.  So sportsmanship went out the window and the students began fighting with the referee and other team.  Peter had met some “friends” on his way to my village and they wanted a ride with him on his way back to town.  Of course he said yes, and they came to watch the game too.  After the game, we went to my house so I could get a few things for town and while Peter was inside his “friends” STOLE HIS CAR.  We walked to the main road trying to decide what to do (call the police, etc.) when we saw the car.  The guys had stopped to get a beer.  While they were inside we took the car and left.  Later that night, his “friend” texted him saying that they were no longer friends because Peter had left him in the village. What kind of friend steals your car and then gets mad at you for taking your car back and leaving them??

• On Saturday morning, Peter and I drove to town because Peace Corps volunteers had a meeting to plan a Girls Empowerment conference in June. On our way, we were stopped by a police officer who wasted no time asking for a bribe or “money for chai.”  She obviously stopped us because she thought that I was a rich foreigner and in this country there is apparently no need for anything that hints at probable cause.  So I gave her 1000 tsh for “chai” and she threw the money back at me because she wanted more money.  After my week, I was just PISSED.  A police officer was outwardly asking for a bribe which I find morally repugnant but it is common in this culture; then, when I offer her money she is rude/ disrespectful and throws it back at me!

After a week of witnessing corporal punishment, government inefficiency and corruption I have been feeling quite frustrated.  I work in a school where I am one of the only female teachers (we have an intern and part time teacher) and there is this feeling of superiority that some of the Tanzanian men seem to have which is annoying and ridiculous since I am the most educated teacher at the school.  But often they will take my periods for their own use and not follow the timetable.  Sometimes it feels like a constant struggle.   But my students are the reason I am here and I absolutely adore them.  They try so hard and are so smart.  They don’t have many teachers who care about their success and spend hours of their free time tutoring rather than beating them for making mistakes.  I am finally starting to see some of the results of my hard work and it makes this experience worth all the frustrations. 

Besides, things could be worse.  My friend in Mbeya had a snake in her house: A GREEN MAMBA! This snake is one of the most dangerous in the world.  I think its venom can kill you in just a few hours.  And I am petrified of snakes.  My brother took me to a snake museum before I left for Tanzania and I had heart palpitations. Now, if this snake had come into my house, I would be back in America before you could finish reading this post (or I would be dead from heart failure…) 

Tanzanian Justice

Tanzanians bring a whole new meaning to the term crime and punishment.  In a society where police are easily bribed, many people believe that justice must be taken into their own hands.  In America, a thief will go to jail, maybe get probation and pay a fine.  In Tanzania, the thief will be beaten, tortured, or killed.  In some parts of the country, they poison thieves.  In other areas they blind them by poking out their eyes with nails.  My friend Peter’s bar was robbed last night by his former security guard, and it did not take long for his staff and other members of the community to find out who was responsible and the man quickly confessed.  Soon a group of men from the community gathered at his bar and began beating the criminal.  They used a metal crowbar to carry out their own form of justice.  Another community member brought pliers, hoping to torture the man by tearing off his testicles.  Others wanted put a tire around his body, cover the tire with kerosene, and set the tire on fire so that the man burns alive.  Luckily, Peter is a good person and stopped the mob from beating and torturing the guy.  He did not want blood shed or anyone dying on his property and had his bar manager take the former security guard to the police station.

When we first arrived in Tanzania, Peace Corps volunteers were told to, “Go easy on the mwizi.” In other words, we were supposed to be gentle towards thieves.  I did not truly appreciate this advice until today.  As foreigners, we are perceived as rich and an easy target for impoverished robbers. However, if someone steals from you and you yell “Thief, thief,” a mob of Tanzanians will beat and possibly kill the criminal.  There is not much tolerance for stealing in this country.  I have not had anything stolen since I’ve lived in Tanzania, but if it happens I will think twice about my reaction.  I wonder if my 30,000 shillings (less than $20) would be worth a man getting beaten….

My First Tanzanian Wedding

Today I went to my very first Tanzanian wedding!  Peter, a Tanzanian friend of many Peace Corps Volunteers invited us to the wedding of his younger brother Francis.  The wedding was absolutely beautiful! 

The ceremony started at 2 pm took place at a Catholic Church in town. It was a pretty standard and traditional service/ mass.   It reminded me a little bit of America, except for the fact that all of the guests were late. In true Tanzanian fashion, some of the guests were over an hour late to the ceremony!  After the ceremony, the wedding party got in decorated cars and drove in a procession around town.  There was one truck that played music and people danced on it.  Once the entire city of Mbeya was aware of the marriage, the wedding party went to a nearby hotel for pictures and the guests went to the groom’s family’s house for food and drinks.  The wedding reception started around 8 pm.  We all gathered at a reception hall in town.  Similar to America, there was a lot of food, alcohol, and dancing. However, the wedding reception in Tanzania was much more formal than I was used to.  There were several different rituals that we watched.  Some were familiar, like the cake cutting, and others were very unique.  For example, there is a part of the wedding where all the guests dance up to the stage and present the bride and groom with gifts.  The bride and groom also present small cakes to everyone in the wedding party and their parents.  We didn’t leave the reception until almost 1 am!  Then we went to a club and danced the night away…

Wedding invitation

Wedding ceremony at the church

Francis and his bride Anna

Dancing guests and procession of cars after ceremony

The bride and groom at the reception

The Mbeya PCVs at the wedding reception

SUPERBOWL PARTY!!

I love sports, especially American football.  In my village, my internet connection speed is terrible.  I can’t even skype, so streaming sports through the internet is out of the question.  Although I missed the entire NFL season, I was not about to miss the Superbowl.   Luckily, there are some amazing Peace Corps volunteers in Mbeya who share my love of sports.  My friend TJ decided to host a Superbowl party because he works at a college with great internet.  In preparation, we bought lots of beer and made nachos. Because of the time difference, we had to wake up at 2 am on Monday morning just to watch.  My parents gave me an AMAZING Christmas present this year:  a mini projector.  And of course we put the gift to great use. We had a bit of difficulty streaming the game internationally and finally resorted to skype.  One of TJ’s friends in America turned his laptop towards the television so we could watch the game.  While the quality was not ideal, the important thing was that we were able to watch the Superbowl.  We streamed the radio broadcast, so we didn’t miss a thing. Unfortunately, not all of the PCVs managed to stay awake.  But of course I was cheering for the Giants until the very end.  

Watching the game

This is a terrible picture but I was trying to show how we projected the game onto the wall

TOD and a School-Wide Epidemic

I hate being Teacher On Duty (TOD) and this was the week from hell.  The teacher who is teacher on duty has to wake up early in the morning to supervise students cleaning the school, check on all the students who are sick, greet all parents and visitors, discipline students who misbehave, grant permission for students to go to the village, and deal with any issues at the school like teachers not coming to teach.  There are few things I hate more than being TOD.  I don’t believe in corporal punishment and could care less if students go the village, so me being TOD just frustrates other staff members anyways.  But this week was AWFUL!  Nearly 75% of the student body was infected by something.  We had to cancel classes and make multiple trips to the hospital. There was this creepy insect that infested the school.  It was gross.  Students started getting sick.  Eyes were swollen almost completely shut, and students complained of headaches and other flu-like symptoms.  We don’t know if the problem was some sort of eye conjunctivitis or if it had to do with the insect, but there was an epidemic that swept the school and my village. The Peace Corps doctor recommended that I stay inside my house and not have any unnecessary contact with students… clearly he did not understand that I was teacher on duty and was the person that students came to with problems or illness.