How much do you help?

Our night watchman was a bit tipsy last night. Not highly drunk, perfectly easy to talk to, but he’d certainly had a drink or two. He was not so pleased when I handed him Ghc8, Ghc2 less than he was expecting. He’d not turned up for a couple of nights, or if he had, he’d arrived after 11pm and left before 5.30am, which is also completely unacceptable.

But how much do you help? Our watchman is not the best. He has a drink problem, certainly. He normally turns up, rain or shine, every single day. He’s normally sober enough to do the job. We pay a pittance, but it’s the going-rate pittance that all night watchmen get, and it doesn’t stop him from doing other work in the day… if he can be bothered. He often turns up late and leaves pretty early, hasn’t done the garden as he’s sick which means that there’s a small risk of snakes, and a bigger risk of mosquitoes and bugs living in our compound. I’m not sure how sick he is – he had a small operation a month ago. He is normally paying back a loan from us for something or other – a bicycle once, this time “seeds” which I think was actually dowry money for his wife, a poor 18 year old who was probably given no choice about marrying this man twice her age.

Our neighbours, fellow volunteers, have a night watchman too. He gets paid a little bit more. He comes at dusk and stays until dawn. He is absent more often, but always tells them in advance, or gets his son to, and has never once asked for a loan. He tends the garden and keeps himself to himself.

There are lots of men who would love the chance of an extra Ghc35 each month to buy food for their family. Should the job belong to someone else?

Yet still I feel bad for taking Ghc2 from our man. I know I don’t often mention religion, but I keep thinking what would Jesus do? Taking Ghc2 from this man means that he might not be able to eat for a few days. However, it also gives him less money to drink. If he was working for a Ghanaian family, he’d be long gone, and we’ve been told by Ghanaians that he takes advantage of our niceness. Would Jesus have given him some money?

Shortly after our troubles, our friend Louis (a Ghanaian) spoke to him, I think threatening that we were looking for someone else to fill his position. Our watchman improved… for a while… then he brought a lady into the compound (his wife? not sure!) and got another Ghc5 off his pay.

Will we ever sack him? I don’t know. He’s attendance is almost perfect, he does a good job of cleaning the bins and always has a smile on his face. Because he doesn’t really do much other work, he’s around a lot, a deterrent to thieves and it’s nice to know someone’s around at night.

Just another part of the Ghana experience!