I Make Another Friend In The Gold Coast ...

Assisting my friend in moving his household stuff back to Nigeria was not fun at all. He was relocating to Naija and being a guy, he got the affair more complicated than it was meant to be. For many reasons, his initial arrangement of moving the stuff failed and it laid at my feet to make fresh transportation arrangement and ensure that the stuff arrive Lagos timely and in good condition too.

Sunday

Late on Sunday night, he rang me to ask if I had a spare room where he could keep his stuff and move them at a later period. I guess he was really pissed off with the failure of the first arrangement. I quickly sensed the feeling, and like Edward W. Howe said, “When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it”, I opted to assist him in making another arrangement in same new week. That I felt would ease the tension and frustration that gripped him as he made that call that night. Well, I suggested that we both drove down to a transport company and get a quick and cheap deal. We both drove all the way down to Accra that Sunday night, and getting to the transport company station, there was nobody to talk to; nobody to provide valuable information which was all we needed that night in order to strategize. We were asked to visit the station the next day at midday, and my friend was to resume duty the next morning in Nigeria. Oh well, it was obvious that the repeated trip to the station would be made by my noble self; the good Nigerian (not the good Samaritan this time … hahaha!).

Monday

Hmmm … I never do this kain affamaco work before oh. Hehe! I fidgeted and wished a miracle would happen and magically move those things down to Lagos without any involvement by me. I foresaw a very busy and laborious week ahead. I was scared to the bones … I don’t do well with bodily stress, I must say. But I got to help a friend: ‘A Friend in need is a Friend in deed’; a very old saying. At noontime on Monday, I drove down to the bus station at Accra to make the required inquiries. I decided to visit other bus stations also. I almost passed out when I was given quotes by some of the transport companies, and at the last place, I quickly decided to arrange to move the stuff to any of my friend who had a spare room. As far as I was concerned, it was folly spending such money to move used items. Fortunately as the conclusion of this experience will confirm soon; but unfortunately, because it cost much, I found my way back to the arms of the transport company whose initial arrangement with my colleague failed. As soon as I gave the list of the items to the Manager, he sniffed and looking away, asked me to pay an outrageous amount. I sensed what had happened but I chose to act in ignorance. I asked for a discount which he turned down even before the words came from my mouth. I smiled … 

The Manager looked away and I kept smiling. After a while, he said, “Bia Madam, Amam onyenwe these items. Anyi agala n’ulo ya, anyi ji moto anyi gaa ibute ivu ya, gbafuchaa fuel, omeghere anyi uzo k'anyi puo – in short, akpasunam iwe now with this list o. Ego m gwara gi bu the last. Oburu na igaghi akwu ya, biko enwere m ebe m na-aga kita di nkpa ” - which meant, "Come Madam, I know the person that owns these items. We went to his house to pick these items with our bus, wasted our fuel and he showed us the way out. In short - don't get me upset with this list o. The amount that I told you is the best that I can do for you. If you will not pay, please, I have an important place to go to now" 

I laughed. I knew he was just being vindictive and he was shocked at my disposition. Well, to cut the long story short, I pleaded and pleaded. Just as the good book confirms, “A soft answer turned away wrath …” the Manager and I came to a compromise – he gave me the discount. But with many conditions which included that I would move the items down to their station in Accra from Tema … Quite inconveniencing but doable.

Tuesday

I woke up feeling nervous and sick … I was frightened by the impending stress of moving the stuff from the house to the bus station and down to my house again. I came to the office as usual that morning and worked till about 12 noon. I left the office and drove to the truck station to arrange for a truck before proceeding to my house for change of clothes (on second thought, I decided to go home first and arrange for a truck afterwards, but somehow, I stuck to the first instinct). I approached the first two trucks whose prices were quite high. The third truck had two male youngsters relaxing in the driver and passenger seats, chatting and laughing. I asked for the price to move items and specified the locations involved. They asked me to wait while they called up the driver of the truck. The driver came … a very dark-skinned, tall and muscular guy in his late twenties came. He asked if I was the one who needed to hire his vehicle and we started the bargaining. We came to a compromise and I quickly rushed home to change into loose clothing. When I returned, this good man was still waiting for me and I led the way to my friend’s house. 

I noticed something – people hailed the driver all the way through Ashaiman, Klagon, Sakumono and Community 18 areas, and he either waved, or stopped briefly to exchange pleasantry or just honked. I wondered who he was. Well, he drove with the two young men that I approached the first time. Quickly, they arranged the items carefully and tied them. I noticed that the driver, being young and vibrant was strangely patient and meticulous. And I remembered and asked why everyone was hailing him all the way to my friend’s house. He said because of his nickname – Half Caste!. Wao! I asked what that meant. He said because of his very dark complexion, people ironically call him Half Caste which usually referred to light-skinned people. Hilarious!

Not long, we were at the bus station at Accra, though delayed a bit at a police check-point. Half Caste and his workers quickly ‘off-loaded’ the items and waited for almost an hour as I went through the list with the transport company Manager to confirm that all the items in the list were physically delivered (the Manager was obviously not well educated and took time to identify the item names … so boring, I almost snapped). Half Caste and his workers waited patiently till we were done with the list confirmation and we all drove back to Tema with Half Caste leading the way this time. When we got to a point on the Motorway, we both pulled up and I paid Half Caste the agreed amount (I was surprised that he did not ask for extra for the time wasted as is the custom of most drivers in the Gold Coast) and he moved the settee set back to my house (as the intended buyers failed to show up at my friend's house to move the settee set as we agreed), while I went back to work. Half Caste called me thirty minutes later to inform me that he had delivered the settee set to my house-keeper at home. I was grateful to him and I found it strange that he did this at no extra charge at all (now, moving the settee to my house was not part of our initial arrangement as the intended buyers were to move it straight from my friend's house).

Wednesday

Half Caste called me at noon to say Hi – I appreciated his call. And just that evening, my neighbor needed a vehicle to move stuff for her and Half Caste was handy. He arrived at my neighbor’s house sharply and moved the items to the specified destination. He refused to give a quote and asked my neighbor to pay him whatever amount that she had. She gave him a ridiculous amount (so my neighbor described the fare she paid to Half Caste). My friend says of him, “Half Caste didn’t look at the money that I placed in his palm. He just put it in his pocket and drove off with a big smile and honked in appreciation” For the first time, I saw a young bus driver of his energy in the Gold Coast behaving in such cute manner.

Thursday

I called Half Caste to thank him for assisting my neighbor. He laughed … Then, I knew that Half Caste would remain my friend for a long time.