Theft in Beit Sahour

Last April, when Sarah and I were still working at the House of Hope, we bought a small scooter. A Sym Superduke 125. I have primarily been using that as my way of getting around town, while Sarah uses our car. Typically, we are very careful to lock it up at night so it will not get stolen, however, there were some crafty thieves that came by the other night and were able to make off with it.

This is kind of like my scooter, except it is in much better shape and mine is much less fuzzy looking.

Friday night after we realized the theft had occurred we went to the police station to file a report. We were forced to do this entirely in Arabic, since no one at the station spoke English. We left the station expecting never to see the Superduke again, but we were wrong.

On Monday morning the Police called my house before I went to work and told me that they had found the bike. I couldn't really understand his responses when I asked what condition the bike was in and where they found it. I soon learned.

Apparently, the thieves had decided to go for a joy ride after breaking the plastic cover from the front of the bike and hot-wiring it. They then popped the rear inner tube, crashed into a ditch, and then ran off with the battery and one of the side panels. When I first saw what had happened to the bike I thought it wasn't even mine. The problems:

Battery was gone
Ignition cables were cut
Left side panel was gone
Front panel was broken
Rear panel and light fixture was broken
Rear tire was flat

Fortunately, the bike still ran and I was able to get it to my mechanic's shop, where it still sits. We are still working on getting all the parts that I need and I am certain that we won't figure out who did it (not that it really matters). The situation is a pain, but it certainly could have turned out much worse. There were also an number of positives that came out of the situation.

The ability to practice Arabic in a sink-or-swim situation and in testing new vocabulary (speaking with the police and with the mechanics has been great practice and a very new kind of practice).

A new friend (Musa) from the mechanic shop.

The ridiculously kind response from the community: We had our scooter stolen 4 days ago. In those 4 days, we have had 2 policemen, a taxi driver, a mechanic, and one random lady stop us on the street to apologize or express regret for what happened. It is so incredible to see the way that people have responded to this. Overall, I still prefer that it wouldn't have happened. But it did. And considering that, I think the whole thing turned out pretty well.

P.S. Please, please pray for the Annapolis Conference that starts today. I know there is not much optimism around this event, but good could come from it, as could evil.