A couple of weeks ago we woke in the night and realized someone was robbing us. It all happened about 12:45 at night with all six of us sleeping in our beds. I had left the kitchen window open because we have finally reached the time of year where a cool breeze blows at night and keeps us comfortable enough to sleep. Honestly most people who live here leave their doors and windows (if they have them) open. Dustin heard something and sleepily realized a dark figure was crouched next to my nightstand. At first he thought it was a child stumbling in to get me so he didn’t want to scare them but then the dark shape bolted and he realized it was an intruder. Dustin yelled and chased the person to the kitchen and saw him jump out he window, over a barbed wire fence and disappear into the vacant lot next door. We quickly checked on the kids sleeping upstairs and realized the intruder had already been through their room and stolen the Playstation that all four kids had used their Christmas money to buy last year. The person had taken Nolan’s backpack, dumped all contents out on the ground (like his bible and schoolwork) and used it to carry away the loot. We realized they had grabbed my phone and my kindle reader of my nightstand. But really that was it. I think we woke up before they were able to take more. We are truly thankful they didn’t grab our wallets mainly because we can’t get new debit/credit cards mailed here and banking would be extremely difficult without them.
Dustin and Nolan quickly got flashlights and baseball bats and went to look around the house and nearby properties. They found and heard nothing, but talked to anyone they could find and asked them to keep an eye out for some thieves. Nolan has traveled on the local bus quite a bit with his backpack and so most of his friends know it's his because it looks different than any of the bags you can buy in Nicaragua.
They came home and we sat on the front porch shaking and rattled trying to figure out what to do next. We live a good 30 minutes from a police station and it’s hard to get police to come out to Salinas so we decided we would call in the morning. We talked it over and decided that if the thieves somehow had a motorcycle or car they were probably gone, but most likely they were on foot. We decided to go talk to the bus driver for the first bus out at 5AM and ask him to keep a look out for Nolan’s backpack. Maybe we could even catch the thieves getting on the bus. By this time, it was 3:45 in the morning so Dustin just decided to stay awake until 4:30 and head up to the bus stop in the middle of the village. As the sun was rising, the bus arrived, but no sign of anyone carrying our backpack. Dustin spoke to the bus driver and he agreed to keep his eyes open. By then some of our friends were outside preparing for the day and helped put in a call to the Police after hearing the story.
Dustin came back to the house for some coffee around 6:00 and a few seconds later a caretaker from down the road and his son came racing up on motorcycle honking like crazy. The son, Leo, had seen four guys walking down the street and one of them had Nolan’s backpack! The three of them quickly loaded into our Land Cruiser with broomsticks and a knife (I’m not joking) and drove off to confront the thieves. They creeped up on the four walking teenagers and identified the backpack hanging low under one of their sweatshirts. Dustin whipped the car to a stop at an angle in front of them knocking over the kid with the backpack. Dustin, Pedro, and Leo flew out of the car and each caught one of the thieves in a foot race. Some broomsticks were broken and a few punches were unleashed. This caused quite a scene and several of the men in the community realized what was happening and jumped in to help run down the other thief. Dustin told me how one elderly man with spurs for riding a horse and a machete held one thief down with his boot and another guy went for a rope to tie them up. The police were called again, but only one person showed up on a moto so he had to go back to get a truck and more police. We were able to get back all the stolen items and were shocked that Nolan’s friend had recognized his backpack and saved the day. Dustin sat there waiting for the police and realized that these thieves were just super hungry kids about Nolan’s age. He decided to buy them a tortilla, cheese, and bottle of water. He knew they were headed to jail and Nicaraguan jail does not include food. It was interesting to hear the people standing around watching until the police got there telling those guys that this town doesn’t want people around who steal. The locals were defending our family. It was beautiful and a bit overwhelming. We always wonder what they think of us weird foreigners. For the first time in three years the line between expats and locals was erased and we were neighbors. We were unified and we felt a new sense of belonging.
We spent the next four hours with masked police all over our house photographing the crime scene and asking questions. Then we sterilized the house for the next hour because who knows who has COVID. We had to go to the police station and give more testimonies and bring Pedro with us as a witness. Wednesday morning we were called at 5am to drive immediately to the police station to bring receipts for all stolen items and to sign more documents. We were exhausted, but laughing at how opposite crime is dealt with here. They wanted us to do a line up and point out the guys. To that we responded, “We caught them and gave them to you tied up. Why would we have to identify them again?” Finally, we wrapped up the police end, we hope. They were actually very kind and several of them gave us their cell phone numbers in case we have another problem.
We all feel a bit rattled, but not so much from the stealing. It’s more the fact that we were all sleeping inside and someone was desperate enough to enter our home. We are thankful that the community stepped in to help. From calling the police repeatedly (one lady finally told the police, you better get here or we are going to kill these thieves, we don’t want crime here), to chasing people down, to stepping up to say something. I know you can get robbed anywhere in the world and this does not make Nicaragua more unsafe for us. But it renews our vision of working to create a world where kids don’t need to steal. Dustin told me that when he threw the kid down, who had Nolan’s backpack, it was like wrestling Parker. He was malnourished and did not weigh enough to even put up a fight. It breaks my heart. I have been thinking and meditating a lot on the idol we can hold of safety. We have laid down this idol before and will continue to lay it down. Over and over again we make decisions about whether we value the vulnerable like Jesus did. We stand alongside kids who need more opportunities so they don’t feel as hopeless as these thieves did. We make the choice to lay down a bit of our safety to say it needs to be a safe world for everyone. We lay down some of our possessions to mend a world where a few have a lot and many have very little. I’m awake to the inequity and I’m not going to allow my own comfort or safety to keep me from spending my life fighting for justice.
A few funny facts:
Nolan’s organic deodorant was also stolen but we didn’t realize it.
Dustin said he learned everything from watching television and can’t believe it worked.
I sat up with a steak knife and a kitten while Dustin and Nolan were out looking.
Our three dogs somehow slept through the robbery.
I can’t imagine the disappointment a Paper White Kindle would be when someone thinks they stole a tablet. I mean, I bought it on purpose without the ability to add any games so the kids wouldn’t want to use it.
Dustin was frustrated with me because my phone was dead and he wanted so badly to use the tracking software to hunt it down.
The police were frustrated because we didn’t give them exact values of each item (most of which were over four years old). I just couldn’t remember and I was going more off value and that was not what they wanted. It's also embarrassing to say how much you paid for an iPhone (even four years ago).
This is the second time Dustin has ever punched someone in his life.