Bits And Pieces

 I got back to Albuquerque a week ago Sunday. My flight home was blissfully uneventful with about the best set of timing and layover times as one could hope for a long international flight so recovery from the time zone change only took a day or so. As is so often the case after I return from traveling, I have fallen off the blog posting wagon. Time to climb back on.

Reminder of Cultural Differences

I was driving in Accra with a team member and her car had a flat tire. I am wondering what the heck we are going to do. In the U.S., we would call AAA or some other kind of service. Or we'd get the spare out and get over to some big tire store. But I was pretty damn sure there are no towing services in Ghana. And I'll be damned if I've ever seen a tire store. But my team member said "No problems. We just passed a vulcanizer a block or so ago. What the hell is a vulcanizer? She gets out. We walk a block or so. There is, among all the shops in the ragtag huts that make up so much retailing, a guy with tires around him, equipment for changing and repairing tires. Cars are stopping at him and he is topping up their air. After he is done with the line, he follows us to our car, gets the tire off, brings it back, fixes the puncture. In 45 minutes we are on our way.

The rest of the trip I am keeping my eyes open and these 'vulcanizers' are everywhere! And it makes total sense. Most are driving some kind of very used car. The roads are terrible. You are going to have tire problems all the time. So tire repair needs to be decentralized and local. And the name, vulcanizer, derived from the process used to harden rubber so it can be used in tires.

A Second Reminder

We in countries like the United States have a belief that (for the most part) it is totally possible work hard and achieve success. Success is not guaranteed. But we believe that environment we live in will allow us to be successful if we are smart enough, work hard enough, and are in the right place at the right time. So it is hard for us to work in a culture where that is not the norm at all.

In a country like Ghana, the assumption is that your government will be taxing you and wasting your money. You will assume that there is going to be some kind of economic meltdown because the powers that be keep mismanaging the economy. You believe that anything good is bound to fail. The owner will turn out to be a crook. Some outside circumstance will undermine you. This creates a set of behaviors. You always have many things going on to make money, even if you have a job, because you are never sure when something is going to fail. If something is going well, you milk it as long and as hard has you can because it is certainly going to stop. 

I was reminded of this when I had to let go of my long-time driver. When I first came to Ghana, I knew nothing and I was driving all over with a very erratic schedule. This continued for the first couple of years I worked. I found my driver the first day I arrived and he was a blessing. He was always on time. He drove very safely. I never worried about where I was or how I was going to get anywhere.

But my needs changed. As Theodora became more settled and we got an office. My driving became very regular. I went to the office in the morning and came back in the evening. I went out shopping a few times. I went to and from the airport. A number of people brought this to my attention, but I have a weakness on being loyal to people and delayed dealing with it. But this trip, it was even more pronounced because of how close I was to the office and the price I new I could get taking an Uber back and forth. So I told my driver I needed to renegotiate our deal. 

I was shocked because what I got back was attitude! He tried to argue that he had been with me during the early years and I owed him what he was making now. The fact that I had paid fully and well by any local standards in the past was forgotten. So I terminated the relationship. It was a bit more annoying to have to deal with the local vagaries of dealing with Uber. But I pretty much know where I am going now. And if it is bit less convenient, I have cut my costs by about 70%!

I bring this up because it is something I used as an object lesson with my team. This guy, this driver, could have grown into being a resource for our whole company as it grew. But he could not see that. He could only see milking the deal for as long as it would last. I told my team to not fall into this trap. You have to fight the powerful tendencies of your culture. You have American interests behind you. If you keep working, we will succeed. 

Whether this will work with them remains to be seen. The powerful draw of local behavior and environment is strong.

Cooking

I was asked by daughter #3 on our Sunday call if I was working as hard. I said I didn't think so because I had enough energy to go on a major cooking spree this weekend. I made:

• Green chile sauce
• Carne Adovada 
• Spanish Braised Chicken
• Schmaltz and Gribbnes (rendered chicken fat with cracklings)

Spanish Braised Chicken

Everything came out good. I hope the energy continues. I really want to make a batch of harissa this coming weekend. My homemade harissa is better than anything I've ever bought. But it is a real pain to make. Stay tuned.