Dónde Están los Ladrones?

One of our local friends, Vicente recently exposed me to a sampling of his collection of Spanish-language music. One of the albums was Dónde están los ladrones? (Where are the Thieves?) by Shakira.

Vicente explained that the album title received its inspiration from an unfortunate altercation at an airport in Bogotá, in which a briefcase full of music Shakira had been working on was stolen. Shakira was discouraged and almost quit working on the album, but homegirl just kept on truckin'.

I thought it was certainly a clever title, and a good "F-U" to the culprits.

Unfortunately, last night I found myself in the terrible predicament of being able to ask myself the same question.

We returned home from work to find that both my iPad and TJ's ring were missing. After turning the house on it's head three times, we came to the conclusion that either our housekeeper or our security guard are to blame. Both had access to our home yesterday.

Upon further reflection, it appears that a currently unused iPhone and my favorite watch may also belong on the list of burgled items. Who knows what else is missing? Only time will tell.

The most frustrating thing isn't the invasion of privacy. It's knowing that we can fire the housekeeper, but the guard will still be around. If we are wrong about her, then we are still exposed to the presence of the true culprit AND have seriously impacted another person's livelihood. If we are right about her, it doesn't matter. The guard will never have our trust again.

We have reason to believe that the guard was on duty during two or three other thefts in our community, while the housekeeper is suspected of stealing from three other homes.

None of that matters, though. She is terminated, effective immediately. I can't do anything about the guard, but fortunately nobody ever had access to the deadbolt lock. The lock they had access to will of course be changed ASAP. We have been taken advantage of and will take every precaution to prevent future violation.

As our home is provided by the State Department, I of course cannot comment on any investigation that may or may not occur regarding this matter, other than to say that it is a horrible thing not to feel safe in your own home.

Living in a community surrounded by 10-foot walls topped with barbed wire, with a guard at the gate, you would think I could lock my doors at night and slip comfortably into bed without wondering...¿Dónde están los ladrones?