A taste of life for an African woman
Last night Anita came home in tears, after a horrible day at WAJU. The inspectors laughed at her and said things about white women not being able to handle the sight of a black man urinating. The family followed her around through six hours of waiting at the police station, all the while pleading with her: Please, Anita, I beg you. In the end, nothing happened, except that she felt horrible and wasn’t sure she wanted to go through with things. To make matters worse, Tony, Mike and Uncle D started leaning on her to give up the case. Tony made it sound like he had been threatened by the family, which upset Anita. It sparked a two-hour long debate on whether Anita should go through with it, with Prue arguing that she could go on the radio and announce to Accra that she was being harassed by a man and his family. In the end, it was decided that Anita would go to WAJU with four of us and we would argue that she should hold off on pressing charges until she had a chance to speak with a lawyer about what would happen if they went through with the court process. She was worried that if he went to court, the judge would decide to lock him away for 15 years.
We went at 9 a.m. and ran into Elvis Sedengo, the inspector I interviewed for a story. He came over to say hello and ended up being a huge help. He talked to Anita for 20 or so minutes about possibilities and what minimum sentences and that sort of thing. He came up with a plausible solution: getting him to sign a bond that require him to show up for counseling about twice a week. Anita told him that no one had been able to tell her about minimum sentences and no one had mentioned the possibility of bail bonds and conditions. He told her that most of the police don’t think for themselves, but since he was a university educated social workers, he was a free-thinker. Unfortunately, when we met with the police officer, she was somewhat rude, impatient and told Anita that she didn’t need to know things like what the conditions of the bond were. Eventually we met with the counselors, who threw a wrench into plans by saying that they weren’t skilled enough to deal with perpetrators, that they were trained to deal with victims. While this was going on, Jerry, the accused, and his brother came into the room and just stood there as we discussed what was going to happen. It was terrible. We moved to another room, where we met with this woman who had a soap opera playing on the TV in her office. She started asking Anita questions without introducing herself, so we interrupted her and found out that she’s the director of the WAJU unit, so essentially she’s second in charge. Anita ran her through what happened, she asked a few questions, then had Jerry brought in to answer some questions.
Jerry seemed a little strange but it could have been my bias and his stress of spending four days in jail. He recounted how he first met Anita and again, repeated the story almost word for word, until he got to the end, when he told the woman he was hanging onto her arm, then she said she had to go in because it was raining and he turned and started urinating. Again, Anita said, look, that’s not what happened. That was the first time this woman had heard that he had been masturbating and that was all she needed to hear. “Charge him, charge him!” she said, while Anita was like, wait! Wait, I’m not sure that’s what I want… It went back and forth with this woman talking about how Anita shouldn’t be afraid – while the family is sitting there – and the counselors talking about how she should just press charges and the woman saying that these things are illegal and even peeing in public is illegal and wouldn’t this be a good “test case” for a roomful of journalists to write about. And, you know, the Ghanaian system takes care of foreigners too. We were all very worried that Jerry was going to get hit with a sledgehammer because we’re white and we’re journalists.
Anita’s been calling for Jerry to get some mental health help, either while out or while in jail. She doesn’t want him to just sit in jail and rot for 15 years. But this woman tore a strip off her and told her that questioning someone’s mental capabilities is slanderous in Ghana – it’s a high insult and she should be careful before saying someone needs mental help.
She called the uncle in and asked him what he thought of what was happening. He gave some tap-dance about how Jerry is under stress, doesn’t work. The brother was called in next and he was very striking. He looked really uncomfortable, but really proud at the same time. She asked whether there was something wrong with Jerry and he started off saying, “The guy…” and she lost it. She went off on this rant about what was wrong with his English and did he not work. What did he do all day, sit around sodomizing each other? I had to look out the window. Kristy’s mouth dropped open, Joanna started to laugh out of sheer astonishment. He looked crestfallen. Eventually she let him speak and he explained that yes, there was something off about his brother and that he would take care of him. Anita said later that it’s the brother that breaks her heart and makes her want to do things to help Jerry.
The woman asked if the uncle had even apologized to Anita while he was following her around pleading for mercy. He confessed that no, in fact, he hadn’t used those words. Anita piped up to say he had said they knew what Jerry had done was wrong, but that was the extent of it. He still didn’t apologize, which was pretty galling.
In the end, it was decided he would be charged and bailed – it was against his human rights to hold him any longer, they kept pointing out. Anita could consult a lawyer and they could go to court later. As we left, the brother and a friend approached us and wanted to shake hands and find out what was happening. We told them to talk to the officer (Sergeant Arthur) and Anita explained that our Ghanaian friends had not been pressuring her to press or drop the charges; that her decisions were completely her own. They said they don’t blame us (well, there’s a novel concept. It’s not like we were walking around with our wang hanging out of our pants). Anita told them to stop coming around the house and we left.
We had a little debriefing session at the Pepsi stand across the street. We all felt pretty deflated by the whole thing.
Anita & Kristy went back today, after talking to a lawyer who urged her not to go forward with the charges, since they would probably be dropped anyway. Kristy said it was just as ridiculous the second day, that the cops were just as rude and disorganized. They tried to explain to the head of the unit that there is a real problem in that her officers don’t seem to be aware of all the options available to the girls and women who make complaints. She didn’t think that was very serious, in fact she said as the head of the unit, she should know everything and the officers should know what she tells them to know. At the end of everything, she told Anita to tell the family they should come to see her. Both Anita and Kristy stopped, turned and said to her, why would I contact the family? That is your job. I do not want to have anything to do with the family. She was a little chastened, but only a little.
Seriously. What a nuthouse.
The real issue is that you have to wonder how Ghanaian women are treated when they try to go through this problem. Anita said while she was waiting on Monday, the cops brought in a young girl. Now, Ghanaians, when they are speaking English, tend to be jovial, sometimes inappropriately so. The cop brought in the girl and said, in a cheery voice loud enough that everyone in the waiting room could hear: “This girl has been defiled!” Anita said she just wanted to cry it was so awful.
We went at 9 a.m. and ran into Elvis Sedengo, the inspector I interviewed for a story. He came over to say hello and ended up being a huge help. He talked to Anita for 20 or so minutes about possibilities and what minimum sentences and that sort of thing. He came up with a plausible solution: getting him to sign a bond that require him to show up for counseling about twice a week. Anita told him that no one had been able to tell her about minimum sentences and no one had mentioned the possibility of bail bonds and conditions. He told her that most of the police don’t think for themselves, but since he was a university educated social workers, he was a free-thinker. Unfortunately, when we met with the police officer, she was somewhat rude, impatient and told Anita that she didn’t need to know things like what the conditions of the bond were. Eventually we met with the counselors, who threw a wrench into plans by saying that they weren’t skilled enough to deal with perpetrators, that they were trained to deal with victims. While this was going on, Jerry, the accused, and his brother came into the room and just stood there as we discussed what was going to happen. It was terrible. We moved to another room, where we met with this woman who had a soap opera playing on the TV in her office. She started asking Anita questions without introducing herself, so we interrupted her and found out that she’s the director of the WAJU unit, so essentially she’s second in charge. Anita ran her through what happened, she asked a few questions, then had Jerry brought in to answer some questions.
Jerry seemed a little strange but it could have been my bias and his stress of spending four days in jail. He recounted how he first met Anita and again, repeated the story almost word for word, until he got to the end, when he told the woman he was hanging onto her arm, then she said she had to go in because it was raining and he turned and started urinating. Again, Anita said, look, that’s not what happened. That was the first time this woman had heard that he had been masturbating and that was all she needed to hear. “Charge him, charge him!” she said, while Anita was like, wait! Wait, I’m not sure that’s what I want… It went back and forth with this woman talking about how Anita shouldn’t be afraid – while the family is sitting there – and the counselors talking about how she should just press charges and the woman saying that these things are illegal and even peeing in public is illegal and wouldn’t this be a good “test case” for a roomful of journalists to write about. And, you know, the Ghanaian system takes care of foreigners too. We were all very worried that Jerry was going to get hit with a sledgehammer because we’re white and we’re journalists.
Anita’s been calling for Jerry to get some mental health help, either while out or while in jail. She doesn’t want him to just sit in jail and rot for 15 years. But this woman tore a strip off her and told her that questioning someone’s mental capabilities is slanderous in Ghana – it’s a high insult and she should be careful before saying someone needs mental help.
She called the uncle in and asked him what he thought of what was happening. He gave some tap-dance about how Jerry is under stress, doesn’t work. The brother was called in next and he was very striking. He looked really uncomfortable, but really proud at the same time. She asked whether there was something wrong with Jerry and he started off saying, “The guy…” and she lost it. She went off on this rant about what was wrong with his English and did he not work. What did he do all day, sit around sodomizing each other? I had to look out the window. Kristy’s mouth dropped open, Joanna started to laugh out of sheer astonishment. He looked crestfallen. Eventually she let him speak and he explained that yes, there was something off about his brother and that he would take care of him. Anita said later that it’s the brother that breaks her heart and makes her want to do things to help Jerry.
The woman asked if the uncle had even apologized to Anita while he was following her around pleading for mercy. He confessed that no, in fact, he hadn’t used those words. Anita piped up to say he had said they knew what Jerry had done was wrong, but that was the extent of it. He still didn’t apologize, which was pretty galling.
In the end, it was decided he would be charged and bailed – it was against his human rights to hold him any longer, they kept pointing out. Anita could consult a lawyer and they could go to court later. As we left, the brother and a friend approached us and wanted to shake hands and find out what was happening. We told them to talk to the officer (Sergeant Arthur) and Anita explained that our Ghanaian friends had not been pressuring her to press or drop the charges; that her decisions were completely her own. They said they don’t blame us (well, there’s a novel concept. It’s not like we were walking around with our wang hanging out of our pants). Anita told them to stop coming around the house and we left.
We had a little debriefing session at the Pepsi stand across the street. We all felt pretty deflated by the whole thing.
Anita & Kristy went back today, after talking to a lawyer who urged her not to go forward with the charges, since they would probably be dropped anyway. Kristy said it was just as ridiculous the second day, that the cops were just as rude and disorganized. They tried to explain to the head of the unit that there is a real problem in that her officers don’t seem to be aware of all the options available to the girls and women who make complaints. She didn’t think that was very serious, in fact she said as the head of the unit, she should know everything and the officers should know what she tells them to know. At the end of everything, she told Anita to tell the family they should come to see her. Both Anita and Kristy stopped, turned and said to her, why would I contact the family? That is your job. I do not want to have anything to do with the family. She was a little chastened, but only a little.
Seriously. What a nuthouse.
The real issue is that you have to wonder how Ghanaian women are treated when they try to go through this problem. Anita said while she was waiting on Monday, the cops brought in a young girl. Now, Ghanaians, when they are speaking English, tend to be jovial, sometimes inappropriately so. The cop brought in the girl and said, in a cheery voice loud enough that everyone in the waiting room could hear: “This girl has been defiled!” Anita said she just wanted to cry it was so awful.
posted by Palmer in Africa at 6:34 AM
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