A Letter Home, Part II

Today's Question: Why Do You Have to Have Security?


Today's Answer:  In my post, Trailing Spouse, I mentioned security quite a bit, but I did not explain why we felt we had to have security, in any form.  


     Here's some background from my experience.  When I lived in Kampala, Uganda, I lived in a small compound of 2-room apartments.  We had a gate and a guard.  Granted, the guard was about 18 years old, but he was always there and had one of the 2-room apartments to sleep in during the day.  At night, he manned the gate and let any late comers in after carousing in the pubs or working late.  I did not see him as security (at least, he wasn't likely to jump in front of a bullet for me), but I did see him as convenient.


     That seems to be what guards are in Rwanda, too.  Sure, they can provide an element of security in that they are (supposed) to always be awake and alert for intruders but there are two problems with that scenario: security guards are notorious for falling asleep and intruders are very, very rare.  In fact, according to anecdotal evidence from my many muzungu friends, the only times they have ever been robbed have been by guards or house staff, via inside jobs.  


     In response to this information, as well as some detailed advice we got from the RSO (Regional Security Officer) at the U.S. Embassy, we decided, instead, to get an alarm installed in our home with motion sensors in every room.  While we waited for the installation process (as noted in my previous blog, it took them 2 weeks to do a 2-day job), we agreed to have guards, 24/7.  


     Mark and I discovered, rapidly, how much we hate having guards.  They are just always there.  They can see in our house, they can hear us, they have almost nothing to do and, in the case of our day guard, he persistently hounded me.   However, it turns out that they can be handy doormen.  When someone comes to our locked gate, either by foot or wheeled transport, the guard can tend to it.  If we have to have someone home to open the gate to give our trash to the garbage collectors, the guard can do it (Rwandan law prohibits us from leaving any trash on the curb).  If we have a visitor or friend, the guard can step out of our driveway and stop traffic as that friend backs out of our driveway.  

     But, on balance, we don't want a guard.  It's awkward.  There is a huge language barrier (future posts will talk about taking Kinyarwanda classes).  For the moment, I have scarified my Monday and Wednesday mornings to sit home and wait for the garbage collectors (but, like so much here, they frequently don't show up and I've waited in vain).  However, it's better than having someone just sitting there.  Waiting.  Staring.  

    Once the alarm installation was complete, we were free from the burden of guards.  Weeee!  But wait ;)  Mark and I had a few days and nights of private bliss with our new alarm system.  We would engage it every night, it would not go off, and we would feel safe from any foul play.  But then something annoying started happening.  The alarm just started going off, by itself, in the middle of the night.  The first time this happened, Mark "armed" himself with a badminton racket and skulked through the house, seeking out the nasty intruder.  But, there was no one in the house.  No breach of any barriers.  On top of that, when the alarm goes off, an armed response team is supposed to arrive within 10 minutes.  That first alarm did not bring anyone at all.  After about 40  minutes, we had finally settled ourselves down and re-armed the alarm, snuggled back into bed and then, WHAM!, the alarm went off again, alerting us that the same region of the house (the main hallway) was being breached.  Mark whipped the door open and no one was there--still.  No lizards.  No mice.  No cockroaches the size of my fist.  Nothing.  Only 25 minutes later did the response team show up.  


     As of today, after having one more incident like that (and a few nights with no armed alarm so we could get a full night's sleep--sssshhh, don't tell anyone), we had the alarm company come and replace the seemingly faulty motion detector.  However, they didn't test it and then they just left with the old one.  They are going to test the old one at their office.  If it works at the office, the problem is deeper.  They will then have to come back and climb back into our ceilings to get access to the main computer installed somewhere in the attic and fix that.  Which means I will have to stay at home, all day, forever, until they are done.


     I sort of wish we had a guard.