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Vengeance is the Lord's - 2005 |
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This past week has
been interesting. A man was
killed. The killer was imprisoned. A group of men somehow related to the man
killed went to the prison and demanded the killer be released. The prison guards refused. The group threatened to burn the prison down
if they would not release this man. The
guards relented and released him to this group.
He was beaten, stabbed with knives and left for dead. The prison guards called in a corps of the
police from Ouagadougou (led by one known as “Le Diable”, the Devil) whose role is basically to scare a town
straight. Their main purpose was to hunt down each of the men from the
group. In doing so (apparently for entertainment purposes), they
also decided to enforce a law that has never really been enforced here -
everyone is to carry identification with them at all times as well as have a
receipt for their bikes to prove they are not thieves. The
'police' drove through the streets checking everyone's identification.
Those who did not have ID or a receipt were thrown in the wagon and hauled
to prison. Our translator,
Aaron, was one of them. When they arrived, they were told to get
on their knees and walk on the gravel for hours while the police beat
their calves with hard plastic clubs. They also beat the palms of their
hands. They had them stand up, put their finger to the ground and
spin in circles until they couldn't stand up and beat them some more.
There were about 50 people, only 2 of them women. The women were forced
to dance for the men while the men were told to sing and clap. I pray
that’s all they were forced to do amongst this group of evil men. During
the night they came in with tear gas, saying “There are too many mosquitoes
here” and sprayed everyone in the face.
Aaron said the hardest part was seeing the old men cry. But
he also said he was comforted as he found 2 other Christians
there. One of them leaned over and whispered, "We can still pray". They
humiliated and beat these people all night and released them when they could
come up with a bribe of $25, all because they didn’t have their ID!
Fortunately, Aaron was able to get a message to us and we were able to get him
out the next morning.
So, the next few days, Yako was a ghost town as soon as the
sun went down. Everyone was hiding in fear. I’m still not
in any danger. Everyone knows they would
never bother the white women, partially because they fear how our
Embassy would react. But it bothers me even more to realize they look
at us as superior beings. They treat their own people like dogs
because they know there's nothing they can or will do. Oh, how I'm
tempted to give them a piece of my mind; but fortunately wisdom reigns and
I am leaving the vengeance to the Lord.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 14 April 2009 )
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