Getting scammed in Africa

It was our second night here and maybe we weren't quite hardened enough to blow it off. He first approached two students on the program who were hanging out by the gas station. His story: "I'm from Togo and I came here for work, but I didn't bring enough insulin, and I need to buy some more. Otherwise I can't go to sleep tonight." He took them to the pharmacy where the pharmacist said it would cost $100 to replenish his supply, enough for 20 days, enough for him to leave the country. He said he'd tried the hospitals and the diabetes clinics but apparently since he's not Senegalese they wouldn't help him.

It was S & M and they came to the internet cafe, on top the gas station, asking what they should do. It felt like an ethical dilemma: Is this guy for real? What if he really does need the insulin? But, everyone needs help around here; we can't save everyone in Africa. Certainly no single person has the money to give to him, but collectively we could easily come up with it. And that made us feel guilty.

We felt like it was legitimate, because he didn't just want us to give him money; he wanted us to come with him as he bought the insulin and watch as he injected it. And he kept pulling out his empty insulin bottle and his needle to show us. After some discussion, those of us sitting in the cafe, pooled our stipends for the week and gave it to him. It wasn't enough, but at least we'd given something. We all thought it was over.

As we walked back to the campus, those of us who had yet to encounter him in person, he stopped us and repeated his story, and we told him we'd already given money. He followed us to the campus and continued asking the other students from our program if they could help him. As we ate dinner. He stood outside. We all discussed it further. What should we do?

So finally those who had not given produced their meal stipends for the week and we finally had enough, enough so he could go back to the pharmacy and buy insulin. Problem: the pharmacy was now closed. It closed at 8 p.m. and it was now 8:30. At this point we were so far into it that we couldn't just let leave. We walked to the telephone booth to find another pharmacy. There he talked to some people who said there was a pharmacy a short car rapide ride away; and it was open 24 hours.

We parted ways then. It felt legit. And no one wanted to go with him in the car rapide to the pharmacy. So after 10 or 12 people contributed to his cause, he walked away with 100 of our dollars.

It was a couple weeks later in our security orientation that our director was telling us all the different ways to get scamed or to get pickpocketed. She mentioned this guy: "He travels throughout Africa, says he's from Togo, says he's a diabetic and needs insulin, is pretty believeable, will often grab his leg as if he's in pain." We all sort of sat quietly until someone said, "Yeah we know him."