One of my favorite things about visiting Kasseh was spending time with Amatey at the e-CARE center. Amatey is 21 and has worked at this phone-call making business for the past three years. Dialing phone numbers and staring out the door waiting for the next customer is no one’s description of the ideal job but Amatey does it with a smile and a lot of patience. Half of the costumers ask for cell phones units and the other half for their phone batteries to be charged. Amatey can’t do either of them because he hasn’t been able to convince the owner of the center that it is profitable, so he has to turn away the few customers that he manages to attract. On the lonely hours that he spends at the center, Amatey usually listens to the news on the radio or reads the Bible in preparation for the church service where he preaches on the weekends.
Amatey’s wage of 20 Ghana cedis is just enough for him to live a relatively decent life a couple of kilometers away from the village where his family is from. Technically this puts him in the 1 billion of people living on less than a dollar a day. However, this is be very misleading because he lives relatively well compared to the street vendors that work selling food at the tro-tro station in front of the center, and perhaps even some of the farmer’s whose source of income might be more unstable and highly dependant on factors like the timing of the rains.
What struck me most about Amatey’s situation was how limited his choices really are. Amatey could disobey his boss, earn some extra money by charging phones but he runs the risk of loosing his job if the boss finds out. He could wait for things to get better and, as he puts it, loose his “best years” instead of creating a career for himself. He could look for another job and if he is lucky end up doing something similar to this because his low level of education means he has little options. He could return to school and complete his education but his family has no money to support him and he has to fend for himself. He could also start something on his own with the many ideas he has but he lacks the financial capital to do so and few places would give him a loan because he doesn’t meet the requirements. He would have to start small and he risks not having anything to fall back into in case the business fails.
Despite his frustration, he is hopeful that things will improve once one of the pigs he takes care of on the side gives birth to piglets and he can start selling them. He is confident that the good breed of the pigs would make it easy for him to sell them, so he is ok with spending a little more on the feed and some of his time trying to expand the cage where he keeps them now in order to ensure they are healthy. When I see Amatey I can’t help thinking of all the opportunities that other young people his age, including myself, have and how much potential he has to become a compassionate leader if given the opportunity. I think he can and will do great things because he has great people skills and a stubbornness that keeps him going even when things are tough. Nothing can take that away.
Amatey’s wage of 20 Ghana cedis is just enough for him to live a relatively decent life a couple of kilometers away from the village where his family is from. Technically this puts him in the 1 billion of people living on less than a dollar a day. However, this is be very misleading because he lives relatively well compared to the street vendors that work selling food at the tro-tro station in front of the center, and perhaps even some of the farmer’s whose source of income might be more unstable and highly dependant on factors like the timing of the rains.
What struck me most about Amatey’s situation was how limited his choices really are. Amatey could disobey his boss, earn some extra money by charging phones but he runs the risk of loosing his job if the boss finds out. He could wait for things to get better and, as he puts it, loose his “best years” instead of creating a career for himself. He could look for another job and if he is lucky end up doing something similar to this because his low level of education means he has little options. He could return to school and complete his education but his family has no money to support him and he has to fend for himself. He could also start something on his own with the many ideas he has but he lacks the financial capital to do so and few places would give him a loan because he doesn’t meet the requirements. He would have to start small and he risks not having anything to fall back into in case the business fails.
Despite his frustration, he is hopeful that things will improve once one of the pigs he takes care of on the side gives birth to piglets and he can start selling them. He is confident that the good breed of the pigs would make it easy for him to sell them, so he is ok with spending a little more on the feed and some of his time trying to expand the cage where he keeps them now in order to ensure they are healthy. When I see Amatey I can’t help thinking of all the opportunities that other young people his age, including myself, have and how much potential he has to become a compassionate leader if given the opportunity. I think he can and will do great things because he has great people skills and a stubbornness that keeps him going even when things are tough. Nothing can take that away.
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