Mr. Frank, who has driven us around Accra--and sometimes quite some distance from Accra--while we have visited Ghana the past three times not only provides valuable services to us, he represents much of what Yo Ghana! is all about.
Mr. Frank was referred to us by a friend in Ghana who had entrusted his daughter's transportation to him. In a city well populated with aggressive drivers, Mr. Frank is patient and careful, not to mention dependable, unfailingly polite and kind.
Driving a taxi in Accra is hard, hard work. The hours are very long, the pay low, and there is more and more competition all the time. It is also a dangerous occupation, and a vulnerable one. Drivers are routinely pulled over or stopped by the police, who may, with varying degrees of subtlety, demand a gift of money before letting them proceed, whether or not they have violated any laws. These are givens.
Mr. Frank puts his hopes in his children. As someone who has studied the nature of the education system, I know that the odds are stacked against them, that the education system in Ghana, as across the world, is arranged so as to make the road to the top universities smooth for the children of the elite, improbable for the children of struggling parents. But hope that through hard work one's children might exceed one's own circumstances is a widely shared sentiment in Ghana, one that propels Mr. Frank to make great sacrifices, a characteristic he shares with so many of the teachers and administrators in Ghana with whom we work. The odds may be long, but there is always hope.
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