Hiding to be caught

(TRUE LIFE DRAMA)


BY ANANIYA ALICK PONJE


Some events that happen in life are difficult to understand; they simply must be accepted as trying to explain them might not come up with anything tangible. We sometimes find ourselves in circumstances that we never thought we would ever find ourselves in, because nature is the best controller of human progress. There are destinies which we are meant to reach. They may only be delayed, but they cannot be denied.

Some time in 2004, something happened in my life that I will never forget. It changed my whole perception of why people find themselves on the wrong side of the law even if they have not committed any crime. All what I used to think was that for someone to be found in prison, the only logical conclusion is that they have broken the law. But I learnt in this year that life has a lot of ironies and paradoxes.

We all walk with a load of crimes on our heads; it only takes the hand of misfortune to expose them. These include crimes which we never committed, but fate can have a way of placing us on the wrong side of the law.

Thus, what happened to me in 2004 still fails to convince me that that was the way things were supposed to be. I was a form three student at Palm Private Secondary School in Chitipa and things were going on very well until this other day when students at the school vandalized school property.

It all started as a joke. We were not amused with the kind of meals that we were being served with. So we decided to “teach the administration a lesson they would live to remember.” After discussing amongst ourselves the way forward, some proposed that we should destroy the school property by breaking the bulbs and window panes, and setting the desks on fire.

Some of us were against the idea, but our voice could not matter because the majority was in support of it. At noon, we took our lunch and went about our daily progress as though nothing was wrong. The vandalism was supposed to take place at night.

One of us who were against the suggestion of vandalizing the school property informed the administration of the impending destruction that was about to befall the school. No one knew that the administration had reported that matter to police.

It was agreed among ourselves that no one should try to remain behind in our “noble” mission of teaching the administration a lesson.

“Whoever tries to remain behind will do so at his own risk. We have all agreed on what we are going to do and whoever wants to show faithfulness to the administration will be dealt with in a way he will live to remember,” I vividly remember these words having been said by the ring leader.

Night time came and after taking our supper, we gathered together to map the way forward. We were divided into three groups: the attack was supposed to be from different angles. It was systematically planned.

Those of us who did not want to be part of the vandalism team were around eight altogether. We decided to hide as our angry colleagues went to do their destruction. Everyone was ordered to have a stone in his hand.

As the journey towards the tragic mission began, my fearful friends and I escaped and hid in a certain bush that was near the school blocks. Our aim was that if the police came to apprehend the vandals, at least we should not be part of them.

In our hideout, we could hear bulbs and window panes breaking with explosive sounds. Within minutes, the whole school campus was completely dark, and the police arrived in a few minutes. The unruly students ran away before they could set the desks on fire.

The police tried to shoot in the air but apparently, there was no one at the campus.

After some minutes, it was calm again. My hiding colleagues and I decided to move out of our hideout. But the moment we found ourselves in the main path leading to the school’s main campus, two police officers asked us to stop. We could not believe what was happening.

My friends ran away while I decided to be submissive. I stopped and one police officer grabbed me by my hand.

“Where are you coming from?” he asked me.

I was confident enough to tell him the truth. “I was hiding in that bush because I did not want to be part of those who were vandalizing the school property,” I said.

“So you mean you are a student at this school?” he asked again.

I answered in the affirmative. He them told me to follow him to a Toyota Land Cruiser that was packed at a distance. I later learnt that I was taken to be one of the vandals and to them my crime was clear.

I was taken to the police station where I spent a night. The following morning I was released and was taken to the school administration where I was told that I should reapply for my place at the school two weeks later as everyone else would do. I was also told that I had a case to answer, even though I did not make any statement at the police station.

When I reapplied for a place at the school two weeks later after it had reopened, I was given a letter that indicated that I was dismissed from school because of being part of the team that destroyed the school property. I tried to convince the administration that I was not one of them, but my pleas could not change the cut and dried decision of the administration.

Of course, other few students who were suspected to have been ring leaders were also dismissed, but to me, I found justice to be lacking in this word. I told myself that there is no justice system that is completely just. And the case I was told I was going to answer never came to be.