Gum Thieves

Tonight I fell victim to the gum thieves. We spent the early evening at the travel agency booking our upcoming trip to Lalibela, Axum, and Tigray, and it looks like we have a great long weekend ahead of us. Once we were set with our plane tickets, Sandy and Chris headed to the gym while Eddie, the infectious disease fellow living with us, Karen and I ambled along pseudo-Bole (one of the main roads here) and headed home. A few blocks from our place, we were bombarded with young children trying to sell us gum. Normally, you can wave them off and say a stern "no" but tonight they were rather persistent, pushing me up against a car parked on the side of the road and overall surrounding us. We continued to push back and say "no" as we all clutched our bags. Unfortunately, their small quick hands prevailed and once we got home, I realized my local phone was missing. I was lucky enough that my passport and the large amount of cash I was carrying was spared, but I definitely took a hit since I had literally just added money to my phone. Hopefully those kids will pawn that phone and use it to buy food for themselves and their families. Helping the Ethiopian economy--one quick fingered child thief at a time! As we were warned, all children who sell gum are thieves. Until tomorrow my friends, email is the way to go!