The title was LONG TIME. It was from our housekeeper/nanny/prep cook Gladys from our Nigeria Days, shown right with Alina when she was 2. Gladys was with us the entire 5.5 yr stint, a rarity in the community to stay with one family that long. We had a pretty good track record, with the same driver, Kayode (below right with Alina), and gardener, Albert. Gladys and Albert were from Ghana, and Kayode was Nigerian. It was a happy household. When we left, Kayode (one of very few Chevron employed drivers, the rest were contract) went back into the driver pool, hoping for a driver supervisor job or a truck driving job. Albert stayed with the house, on the Lekki compound. And Gladys went back to Accra.
Gladys was a smart young woman. She was a great help in the kitchen, and I taught her to cook our favorite meals for those times when I needed dinner made. She'd make tortillas from scratch when I needed them for Mexican dinners, pasta from scratch when we'd have spaghetti bar parties. She'd worked for an Indian family before, and had a few terrific specialties of her own. Gladys was a gem. When she was done with her work, I showed her how to get on the computer to practice typing with Mavis Beacon. She got pretty fast by the time we left. I like to think that helped her get a job at a bank in Accra.
We didn't hear from Gladys very often. Usually it involved requests. For money. For a cell phone. For money for a car. With no way to safely get money to her, it was easy to say no. We'd been very generous when we sent her on her way, with gifts of money, cookware for her restaurant venture, a sewing machine, and whatever else we had that she could use. When we moved, I sent an email to the yahoo address we had for her. And she answered. Her job with the bank had evaporated long ago. She'd done another housekeeper stint in Lagos. Now she was working with a non government organization (NGO) that helped women with HIV support themselves, back in Ghana. The women dye fabrics and sell them all over Africa. Gladys said she'd been able to travel a bit to other countries (besides Nigeria) to promote the program, and said someday she might come to the USA. I wasn't holding my breath that she'd make it here, but I was very proud that she'd found a good situation for herself, with a chance to make life better for women and children in her city.
So imagine my surprise when the LONG TIME email came, telling me that she was planning to attend an international conference on AIDS/HIV in Mexico City Aug 3-8. I checked. There is one. The problem (in Africa there is ALWAYS a problem) is that there is no Mexican Consulate in Ghana. So attendees must go someplace where there is a Mexican Consulate enroute to Mexico City. She found it was cheaper to go to the US, then buy a round trip ticket to Mexico City from here. "I'm coming to Washington" she declared, and asked if she could stay for 2 days while getting her visa.
My first reaction was, does she realize Washington state is not Washington DC? So I sent a quick geography lesson. Next came a reply that there was a consulate in Seattle, and she would be flying into Seattle. I went online, found that there is also one in Portland, which is a LOT closer to us. Another email back, explaining that while I live in Washington, Seattle is 4 hours away. Portland Oregon is only an hour, can you take care of business there? The last email I got said to expect her in Portland the 29/30 of July. We'll see. Stay tuned. Sagas linked to Africa always get interesting....
UPDATE:
Gladys' sponsors are going to Mexico City via Cairo, so she will be traveling with them. I'm relieved. I was really worried she'd get stuck somewhere, or stuck here...now she'll be enroute to Mexico City with the people with the credit cards. She says she'll be coming to the US for three weeks at some point on a USAID program. So we might see her yet!
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