I’m learning so much here, and it’s hard to keep track of
all the little lessons that have crossed my path. But I might as well talk
about what boda boda drivers taught me, since I interact with them every day.
They reveal my heart.
We often use an app called SafeBoda to find drivers to take
us places. We input our location and destination and the app calculates the
approximate price (it’s based on distance and time). Right now, there’s a
promotion where the customer (me) pays half the normal price and SafeBoda pays
the rest, all in an effort to broaden its customer base. When a driver accepts your request, he usually calls
to confirm your location to pick you up. There’s an option to cancel a request
even after a driver accepts, and there’s also a pairing option. The pairing
option allows you to pair with a driver you see on the road: you enter the
relevant information, along with his helmet number. Sometimes the drivers take
forever to come (OK, not forever, but a LONG time [like 5 min]). Because I’m
impatient and think that my time is super valuable, I tend to cancel requests
and stop SafeBodas on the road to pair. I’ve also been tempted to hop on a
random boda boda (which doesn’t have a helmet for the clients), because I
really don’t like being late. I also don’t like waiting for other people.
On Friday, Joe was calling a SafeBoda to take Keith back to
Bushpig so he could get to the airport, and the SafeBoda was either lost or
stuck in traffic. I could tell that Keith was getting anxious about getting to
the airport on time, but the SafeBoda wasn’t coming, so I waved at the next
SafeBoda that rode down the street. Three seconds later, the right SafeBoda
showed up. Awkward. Now we had to talk the driver we hailed down and explain
that we didn’t need him anymore. Thankfully, he was on his way to another requested
ride, so we just had to direct him to the next street over. Problem solved?
This short interaction made me realize that I treat boda
drivers as commodities. There are so many of them, each a unique person, but to
me, they’re all the same – a fast(er) way to reach my destination. They’re
merely tools that make my life easy, and one is no different from the other.
That’s so scary, given that I’ve talked to so many individual drivers, heard
their stories, and gotten to know them as fellow humans. They’re just like me,
with families they love and dreams for their future. Yet somehow I treat them
as less than me, people whose time doesn’t matter because I idolize my own
time. I guess time passes slower… Keith described it as living in fourth gear
(speed in the West), but suddenly shifting back down to first (speed here). Of
course, it’s not possible to constantly switch back and forth, but I’m having
trouble shifting down at all.
Another lesson is about loyalty. We give boda drivers a soda
after each survey, thanking them for taking their time to answer our questions.
While most of them happily take the soda, many have refused; Tugende teaches its
drivers personal protection, instructing them to never eat/drink anything
strangers and customers give them. It’s so inspiring to see so many drivers
actually follow through, even after we flash our Tugende IDs. And me? I’m
pretty naughty and rebellious. Just today, I walked through downtown (that
really busy kinda dangerous area. See "Are You a Keeper?" for full description) by
myself (everyone else was tired and went back to Bushpig) to visit Peace’s
mom’s shop. I’ve realized that I break a lot of rules for convenience’s sake,
and that’s not good. But when I make a promise and other people bail, there’s
not much I can do because I need to keep my word.
This ties into the tension between committing to people vs.
tasks, which directly contradicts with my personality. I’m getting better, but
I’m still very willing to step on people and hurt feelings in order to get
things done. It’s especially difficult when people are late and make you wait.
If you had only told me, I would’ve been able to change my schedule around and
accomplished some tasks in the time I was waiting. But you never really know,
and it has been extremely hard.
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