Thieves

Okay, I've been in Zambia for over a year now, and I have never seen this. Where have I been? Here's what happened...


Tonight, Ricky and I were shopping at Mr. Price (it's a clothing store similar to Old Navy, but yet not really the same prices). Anyway, I was on my side (that would be the ladies clothes), and Ricky was looking for some clothes for the boys. As I was browsing the clothes rack, this lady who was sweeping the aisle began coming towards me -- backwards. That was weird. She was coming right at me, and so I said, "Excuse me." And she didn't move, she just kept sweeping (backwards) and pushed me out of the way. I was appalled! Then, one of the clerks said, "It's okay, she's a thief." I must have had this awkward look on my face because I didn't understand. As I stared at her, I noticed she had white paint on her arms, face, even in her hair.


Shortly after, Ricky comes to find me and proceeds to tell me he had the same experience on the other side of the store. So, there are 2 of them sweeping the store with paint on them. Weird? Ricky was getting restless and decides to go outside to wait on me. After checking out, Ricky tells me about the 2 girls who were sweeping. They went outside the front of the store and were sweeping, and as they were sweeping, people began to laugh at them and say things to them, like "theif". No one has really explained this to us, but the best we can put together from our observation is... these girls stole something from Mr. Price, and their punishment was to work and also to be embarrassed and ashamed for their actions. One of the girls was definitely ashamed, as she held her head down the whole time she was sweeping. Well, I guess this is a pretty fair way to treat theives, so that maybe they don't want to steal again.


What do you think? Click on comments below to tell us what you think.