Night Time Intruder

I think someone tried to kill me last night!  Okay, maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I did get a little scare.  I have been told on more occasions than one that people would probably come to knock on my door at night, but that I should never ever, under any circumstances, open it.  I never actually thought this would happen, but last night as I was sitting on my bed on my laptop, I heard a soft knock on my front door.  I wasn't sure if I was hearing things so I sat really still and listened a little bit closer.  I heard the knocking again, only this time it was accompanied by a whisper, "Keza...Keza."  I was sooo creeped out at this point!  Who in the heck is knocking on my door and whispering my name at 9:00 at night. (BTW 9:00 is very late in Rwanda).  It was pitch black outside and all I could hear were crickets chirping and my name being called by someone from the darkness.

I sat in my bed for a second contemplating what to do and then I remembered that my room window and back door are made of wood and have little cracks in them that you can see through if you get really close.  I then hopped out of my bed and hid behind my room door (I'm actually laughing now, that sounds silly) so that the intruder wouldn't be able to see me if they walked around to the back of my house.  I kept listening, and when I didn't hear any footsteps or any other sounds, I ran into my living room to shut off the light, ran back into my room, shut off that light, and crawled into my bed.  Whoever it was went away, I think...

My neighbor's house boy comes by in the evening to talk to me sometimes so this morning I asked him if he had come knocking on my door last night.  He only halfway understood what I was asking and then he said, "Me?  I was at your house?"  I said, "No, I am asking if you were here last night." He said no and proceeded to say, "You had thieves at your house last night." 

Based on his broken English and accent, I couldn't tell if he was asking me or telling me that I had thieves here last night, but I quickly said, "I don't know who was here, I did not see them.  I just wanted to know if it was you."  Again, he said no and I went on about my business.

When I got to work this morning, I told my supervisor what happened last night and he assured me that he will start having a security guard come to check around my house at night and he said that if this happens again, I am to call the security guard immediately.  He said that it may have been a drunk man who wanted to come in, or someone just coming to visit me, but that either way, I did the right thing in keeping quiet and not opening the door.

I don't know who it was or why, but I thank God that they went away and didn't try to break in.  My back door is made of a wimpy piece of wood and if anyone really wanted to get in, they wouldn't have much of a problem doing so.  Please send up prayers of safety and well-being for me...and peace of mind...because I definitely have a light case of paranoia now.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea