Living in Ghana has proposed all sorts of new situations to us that we had never even considered being faced with, as many of my previous blogs demonstrate. But, these new situations never cease to make us laugh in wonder at this life we live here. Recently my newest challenge has been assisting my friend Gilda in finding a new driver. She has gone through 2 already and is not happy with the current one. What I've learned from living here and relying on "help" to complete every day tasks is that it's not only about the person being able to complete the job to your satisfaction but is almost more about the comfort and relationship you are able to have with this person. Alan and I have been so incredibly lucky to have found Frank and Rita. We completely trust them and there seems to be a great deal of mutual respect between us. Others haven't been so lucky...from stories of people stealing, to refusing to do to the work asked of them, to lying, etc. And of course these types of issues are not unique to Ghana and can happen anywhere. It's just that in the US we would never have been faced with such issues because we never had any or needed any "help."
So anyway, I wanted to try to help Gilda find a new driver. Basically, the issue with her current one, is that he often arrives to work with a bad attitude and complains about driving them to and fro despite that being his job. He doesn't seem to like to wait for her and on top of it has been requesting more payment since the first week on the job. I mentioned to Frank that Gilda was looking for a new driver, and like many drivers, Frank knows a handful of guys that are drivers (either unemployed or periodic taxi drivers looking for full time steady work). He told me that he'd bring his best guy to meet Gilda yesterday. Frank arrived at my place with Sunyani at 7:30am yesterday and we had to tell them that they'd have to wait because no one was even sure he was bringing someone and 7:30 is a little early for an interview. So around 9am, I called Gilda with the good news that we might have a driver for her. However, within 5 seconds of meeting Sunyani I had concerns. His English skills seemed very, and I mean VERY limited, even more limited than Frank's. But, we gave it a try. The interview went something like this, Gilda asked a question, Sunyani looked at her with a blank stare, Frank translated and eventually just answered the questions for him, Gilda's maid, Elizabeth, who was in the background ironing, jumped in and told Frank to stop answering for him, and then when giving the chance to speak, Sunyani could barely form sentences. But, when it came to discussing salary he got a little bold. Gilda proposed starting at 160 Cedis and if they liked him would go up to 180 Cedis. This, by the way, is pretty standard for drivers' salaries. So Sunyani says he'd like 300 Cedis which prompted our mouths to drop open, as he was totally serious. I watched Elizabeth in the background grinning. She appeared to already know this guy wasn't going to work out. Gilda repeated her offer and I jumped in to explain that if he doesn't like the salary to not take the offer because the last thing Gilda wants is him to request more money every week from her. And as expected, he eventually agreed to the salary. Anyway, to make a long story short, after sitting on the issue for a few hours, Gilda decided there was no way this was going to work and decided it was a no go. And of course, Frank said he'll line up other drivers for interviews and my only request was that he check their English beforehand.
It's situations like this, that we're reminded of Frank's "goodness." He won't get anything out of helping these drivers or helping Gilda but seems to just want to help because he's a good person. Just yesterday, I saw him talking to another driver in the parking lot who was explaining that he took his employer's brand new SUV home to his house for the night (which many drivers are allowed to do) and someone broke into the back window and when they didn't find anything of value they stole the driver's side mirror. Frank told me that he told the driver to do what he does from now on...when Frank on rare occasions is allowed to take our car to his house, he sleeps on the roof of the car to protect it. When I asked about mosquitos he said he just drapes a big cloth over himself. When I asked about comfort, he said he really likes sleeping outside. Now this is what I call dedication. Frank would protect us and our car at no cost I think. And clearly he pays the consequences from time to time, as he got a really bad case of Malaria 2 weeks ago that prompted days off from work and a hospital visit. I just hope it wasn't from sleeping on top of our car!
So anyway, I wanted to try to help Gilda find a new driver. Basically, the issue with her current one, is that he often arrives to work with a bad attitude and complains about driving them to and fro despite that being his job. He doesn't seem to like to wait for her and on top of it has been requesting more payment since the first week on the job. I mentioned to Frank that Gilda was looking for a new driver, and like many drivers, Frank knows a handful of guys that are drivers (either unemployed or periodic taxi drivers looking for full time steady work). He told me that he'd bring his best guy to meet Gilda yesterday. Frank arrived at my place with Sunyani at 7:30am yesterday and we had to tell them that they'd have to wait because no one was even sure he was bringing someone and 7:30 is a little early for an interview. So around 9am, I called Gilda with the good news that we might have a driver for her. However, within 5 seconds of meeting Sunyani I had concerns. His English skills seemed very, and I mean VERY limited, even more limited than Frank's. But, we gave it a try. The interview went something like this, Gilda asked a question, Sunyani looked at her with a blank stare, Frank translated and eventually just answered the questions for him, Gilda's maid, Elizabeth, who was in the background ironing, jumped in and told Frank to stop answering for him, and then when giving the chance to speak, Sunyani could barely form sentences. But, when it came to discussing salary he got a little bold. Gilda proposed starting at 160 Cedis and if they liked him would go up to 180 Cedis. This, by the way, is pretty standard for drivers' salaries. So Sunyani says he'd like 300 Cedis which prompted our mouths to drop open, as he was totally serious. I watched Elizabeth in the background grinning. She appeared to already know this guy wasn't going to work out. Gilda repeated her offer and I jumped in to explain that if he doesn't like the salary to not take the offer because the last thing Gilda wants is him to request more money every week from her. And as expected, he eventually agreed to the salary. Anyway, to make a long story short, after sitting on the issue for a few hours, Gilda decided there was no way this was going to work and decided it was a no go. And of course, Frank said he'll line up other drivers for interviews and my only request was that he check their English beforehand.
It's situations like this, that we're reminded of Frank's "goodness." He won't get anything out of helping these drivers or helping Gilda but seems to just want to help because he's a good person. Just yesterday, I saw him talking to another driver in the parking lot who was explaining that he took his employer's brand new SUV home to his house for the night (which many drivers are allowed to do) and someone broke into the back window and when they didn't find anything of value they stole the driver's side mirror. Frank told me that he told the driver to do what he does from now on...when Frank on rare occasions is allowed to take our car to his house, he sleeps on the roof of the car to protect it. When I asked about mosquitos he said he just drapes a big cloth over himself. When I asked about comfort, he said he really likes sleeping outside. Now this is what I call dedication. Frank would protect us and our car at no cost I think. And clearly he pays the consequences from time to time, as he got a really bad case of Malaria 2 weeks ago that prompted days off from work and a hospital visit. I just hope it wasn't from sleeping on top of our car!
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