You never really think it will happen to you...

...until it does. And then it's just a strange sense of shock- did that really happen?? what should I have done differently? How could we have avoided that?
For everyone who has ever been mugged, i'm sure these questions have gone through your head...

So Josh's birthday weekend was going along great. On Friday (his actual birthday) we decided to hitch a ride with a co-worker to Blantyre (going by car instead of mini-bus makes all the difference!!) to spend the weekend at a hotel and enjoy the amenities of being in a bigger city, notably the restaurants. So we got into Blantyre around 8pm, checked in to our hotel and enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner at Casa Mia complete with appy's, a bottle of wine, 2 entrees that we could never get in zomba, and of course dessert.  We were relieved to find out that we could charge this dinner to our room as our cash stock was low. See here in Malawi most everything is paid for by cash, the only credit card that is accepted is VISA (and that is only rarely accepted) and unfortunately we don't have the pin for our card. So this means that constant trips to the bank machine are necessary.  Also, the highest bank note here is 500Mwk which is about $3 USD. So you can imagine the wad of cash you get when you take out an equivalent of 120$ (which is the most the ATM will let you take out at one time).

The hotel we were staying at was about an 8-10min walk away from the town and we figured that we would just walk to and from... it wasn't long and we didn't have a car, so why waste the money for an overpriced cab?  Plus we like to walk, and there are always 2 of us.. so why not? So on Saturday we walked to the town, and explored a little (which wasn't actually all that much, just some big buildings, and of course that bigger city feeling- we got asked for money over a dozen times) and of course made a trip to the ATM so we could pay our hotel bill the next day. We enjoyed some good pizza in town (from a chain they don't have in zomba), and made our way to another hotel that was near ours to have an afternoon coffee and dessert (also a major luxury as it was filtered coffee!). After that we went back to our hotel to relax a little before dinner. As for our dinner choice, we had decided to go to this Indian food restaurant that was recommended by our guidebook and we were very excited as again we don't have anything like this in Zomba.

So when we ventured out earlier it was during the day, so we really didn't think twice about the road or its potential dangers at night. So now, it was around 7pm, fully dark, but we figured it was fine, as we had just walked that earlier.  And funny I remember thinking, wow i actually feel safer than i thought i would here in Blantyre... So we made it the Indian restaurant (the road was not lit the whole way, some parts were, but it was only a short walk), enjoyed some wonderful butter chicken and mixed veg, complete with naan (plain and garlic!) We realized there that we only just had enough cash to cover the bill (we left most of what we had taken out earlier) so we thought that we should just go take out some more money that way we could pay everything tomorrow. So we walked to the ATM, and took out some money.

Lesson #1-  Do not take out money at night (even if there are 2 of you), especially in a city you do not know, you have no idea who is watching you and who will follow you.

When we were taking out money I didn't feel too unsafe, there was a security guard there and everything was lit, so that was fine. We proceeded then to walk back to our hotel (which we thought was a wonderful idea since we were both so full from the food!).

Lesson #2-  Do not walk down a dark road at night, even if it is less than a 10 minute walk, even if there are 2 of you.

So walking back down the poorly lit road, Josh and I were just talking about life, we were literally about 200 meters from the gate to the hotel, in a pitch black area, when we heard someone running behind us. Thinking back now Josh remembers hearing someone walking behind us about 5 minutes earlier (this was when we were in the lit area), feeling a bit uncomfortable but not really thinking anything of it.  So we immediately look back and see this guy running towards us, my first thought was, oh is this guy running for fun? is he training for something? (duhh danielle.. pretty funny now when i look back at it) and he runs past us, then quickly turns around and says something like 'gimme your money' while lunging at us with this huge knife (I only remember seeing the glint of it, but josh got a clearer look as he was in front of me, and remembers it being about 30cm-  it is predominantly an agricultural society here so there are machete's and huge knives pretty much everywhere...) What happens next is pretty much a blur, but all i remember is thinking, ok start making noise to attract attention, so i start yelling at him, 'what are you doing, we don't have anything!" and at this point i think josh is yelling at him as well, but the guy is now lunging at him with the knife so as we are backing up Josh throws his wallet, meanwhile i am quickly backing away, thinking 'there is no way this guy is getting my bag our passports are inside, i will run fast to the main street'- and then i remember him demanding josh's phone, which he then throws at him as well, so while he is busy with Josh I on the other hand just turn around and start running, yelling, 'I don't have anything' and all i remember hearing is "Madame, Madame, your phone!" I remember thinking, you're robbing us and still being polite and calling me Madame???  So i just run as fast as I can back down the road and see a car coming towards us- so waving my hands like a madwoman I flag down this car (it happens to be the owner of the hotel we are staying at!) and I tell her that we have just been robbed. Somehow josh is also beside the car now too. Josh tells me later that after the guy had picked up his wallet and phone he started running after me for my bag (josh was running now too), but I was well ahead of him and then when he saw the headlights he took off down a side street. So we explain to the woman in the car what happened, meanwhile the security guard for the house we have stopped nearby has just come out (with his shotgun!) to investigate the noise- he apologizes to josh that he came late (you never know, maybe he was sleeping) but we get back in the car and drove to the hotel. The women who picked us up is just really glad that we were not hurt. Which leads me to lesson #3:

Lesson #3-  If someone is threatening you with a weapon, just give them what they ask for instead of trying to fight them.

The owner's husband is at the front desk and he offers to take us to the police to make a statement- so we go there.. but as i had suspected, clearly a waste of time.. resources are lacking and there really is nothing they can do, so we gave them our details (what was stolen etc.) and went back to the hotel, shaken, baffled and trying not to relive what just happened.

phew.. just writing that makes my heart pound again... and I hate that this experience has now instilled fear in us. This was the first time either of us have been threatened with a weapon.. and it's a terrifying experience. We are so lucky and thankful that neither of us got hurt (I am so glad that josh threw his stuff instead of trying to fight! although at one point the guy lowered his knife and josh thought that he could have taken him but made a split second decision not to, that it wasn't worth it). And I don't care about the money (we are happy that he only got away with josh's super old phone, bank card, and the cash we had just withdrawn), but what I hate the most is that this has cast a shadow on the way we view Malawi, and Malawians..  constantly thinking, so who is going to rob us now?  We know we stand out and we know that people think we have money (we are asked for it everyday) but now we are constantly speculating about who is going to use force to get it..  We know that most Malawians are good, hard working, honest, people, but now this is a thought that's hard to shake.. uggg, fear is an ugly thing...

But we learned some good lessons, and maybe we were getting too lax about walking in the dark in Zomba and now will take some extra precautions ...  maybe that experience saved us from something bigger.. you never know.  And we found out later that apparently that stretch of road is a really bad area after dark (thanks for telling us that hotel!) so i guess you should just never take any chances!

This will definitely be a birthday that Josh never forgets!!