Scary news

Just talked to my roommate from Ghana and heard some scary news about Accra. When she was coming back from Shiashie, she went to get onto the tro-tro and noticed her bag was missing. There had been a man standing in her way whom she suspected of stealing her purse. So she got off the tro-tro and began explaining her situation to others and they accused this man of cutting off her bag with a cutlass. So the crowd began to beat him and he ran across the street where she says that they lynched him. They returned her purse to her afterwards but I'd imagine the whole instance was pretty frightening. Street crime is on the rise in Accra, and she reports that two other men were lynched by a mob last week for stealing someones things while on a motorbike. I find the whole thing pretty scary and sad as well. In my course on African politics, we are learning about the systematic Western exploitation and domination of Africa and I am discouraged by the situation of poverty and helplessness that can be found there. Stories like this make me so confused about what can and should be done.