📸 Photo

MARCHING POWDER

felt in awkward situations, and eventually I could make tourists feel safe almost as soon as I met them at the entrance.

Thomas the tour guide. Actually, I kind of liked the sound of it. Each time I repeated it over the next few years, I thought back to that very first tour, sitting in my room with my first group of tourists.

‘Well, here we are. This is my prison cell. Welcome!’ I plugged the kettle in and asked who wanted tea or coffee. They seemed to be relaxing, but it was still difficult to know what they wanted to hear. Luckily, before another uncomfortable silence fell, Yasheeda suggested that I tell her friends about the night I came to San Pedro.

I started telling them about my time in the FELCN and about how the police had virtually starved me there. Then I told them about arriving at San Pedro by taxi and being asked to pay the entrance fee. And about how I had slept in the abandoned building, almost freezing to death there, because I didn’t have enough money to buy a cell. No one said anything but they all looked shocked.

I continued talking, gradually feeling more confident as the story progressed. I explained how the prisoners had to pay to belong to a section and then pay a transfer fee in order to get the legal title to a cell. I explained how everyone had to have a job in order to survive. I told them about the restaurants, and about the guards and the corruption. I also explained about how many of the inmates were addicted to smoking base. I could sense the Israelis were starting to believe me. Under the table, Yasheeda gave my hand a squeeze of encouragement. I saw from her friends’ faces that they were now totally involved in my experiences. Yasheeda winked at me. As her friends became more comfortable, they began firing questions at me: Where are you from? How long have you been here? What’s it like living here? What did you do? Are you innocent? Is it dangerous? Is this your first time in prison? Did you get caught with drugs? What’s the food like? Is there a school inside the prison for the children? Where is your family? When do you get out? Isn’t it against human rights to make you pay for a cell?

I did my best to answer all their questions, although I avoided the ones about what I had done. I didn’t want people I had never met before knowing details about what I was charged with, especially since I was in the middle of my trial.

‘Well, can we see the rest of the prison now?’ one of the guys asked.

‘Yeah, let’s go and have a look around,’ suggested his friend. ‘I want