Shoplifter

On the evening of 3/20/2009, I decided to accompany my host brother on his errand to this local grocery store to pick up some ingredients for dinner. We walked the short distance in town from our house to the Pick n Pay. It was a beautiful evening, the sun was low and the sky was glowing slightly. As we walked up to the store however, there was a lot of commotion.

We had arrived at the store just in time for the spectacle. A young boy had been caught stealing and was being chased by the security guard. Young Namibian children, and young African children in general, from what I have seen are incredibly active and fit. The slightly out of shape security guard never even have a chance. The boy, probably age 11 or so, was always one step ahead of the guard, almost taunting him somewhat even. After a few minutes of chasing, the security guard, in a last ditch effort, tried throwing his billy club at the young boy, but once he missed, it was over and the boy was well on his way home by that point.

I caught myself throughout the whole thing cheering for the boy, secretly hoping that he would get away. Believing in my mind that whatever he took, he needed it more than the shop did. Not that I was condoning stealing by any means, but I definitely do no condone starvation. Stealing to survive is one thing. It made me really think about what a different world I was living in now, one where small children were stealing out of desperation of hunger. It made me sad for the boy’s situation, but happy he was able to get food one way or another.