Expanding the Staff: Hadijah

It never ceases to amaze me how truly blessed I am when it comes to my staff (employees) in Uganda.

Robert, my driver, has become so much more to me than just the person who takes me to the office and meetings all day. He is my friend, my informal psychologist, my property manager, my negotiator, my gardener, my electrician, and my handler. People in the U.S. are always talking about how, if they lost their Blackberrys or cell phones, they would lose all the organizing details of their lives. I feel that way about Robert. I once joked with him that I wanted to insure his person against theft, loss of life, or property damage but he didn't quite get what I was talking about. In either case, Robert has become the single most important and loved person for me in Uganda.

I have had similiar luck with my second Ugandan employee, Hadijah. I hired Hadijah as my office manager a few months ago on the recommendation of someone I share office space with as I was drowning in paperwork and trying to manage three massive budgets with the mathematical skills of a seven year old.

I hired her the first day I interviewed her when she looked around my office and said, "Now this just can't go on. I can organize this for you in 24 hours but this...well, this is unworkable."

I also liked her right from the beginning because I love the way she dresses. Granted, I know this is superficial but Hadijah loves to dress extravagantly and I eagerly anticipate her outfits everyday. The first day she started she arrived in bright purple stiletto heels that matched her purple sweater and purple lipstick. She is incredibly pretty and so the fact that she can pull off such outfits with complete glamour never ceases to amaze me.

Of course, I had to go to Robert about two weeks after I hired her to find out why all the Ugandan women in my office were being so hostile towards her. She is amazingly polite and friendly so I just couldn't figure out what she could possibly be doing to upset all of these normally very calm women.

"Madame Boss, look at her. She is very beautiful and she dresses in those clothes that show off her...well, her beauty, I guess. Ugandan women don't like competition and you brought a very beautiful woman into the office and now they are jealous," he related.

"That's ridiculous!" I said. "She's married and has a child...she is not on the market!"

Robert sighed and tried again, "Would you like it if someone who looks like Hadijah was Mister Colonel's secretary? I am sure you wouldn't. You are not seeing it now because you are not interested in any men at the office, you are her boss, and you have Mister Colonel but I am sure if this was America and you were in that situation at the office, you wouldn't be too happy either."

Of course, he was correct. I wouldn't like it one bit.

Then, as added assurance, he said, "I am happy with your choice, however," at which point he started laughing heartily.

When the company director was out here two months ago, he would chuckle every day during a workshop we were putting on when Hadijah would arrive in one outfit more colorful than the next. The day she wore a black-and-white checkered sweater with matching black-and-white checkered shoes he leaned over and asked, "She is fabulous to look at...but can she really add and manage our budgets?"

"Yep, she is brilliant. She has completely reorganized my professional life here," I related.

"Bravo," he said, "I completely approve of the choice then!"

Eventually, over the past two months, everyone at the office has calmed down and Hadijah has come to be part of our tight-knit crowd and it is like she was there all the time. She gossips with the rest of the female staff over lunch and is so skilled with numbers that the office manager of the other organization we share a building with will often ask Hadijah to check her numbers for her at the end of the week when she is doing their company budget.

Hadijah and I also share a small office so we have gotten to know each other quite well on a personal level and I cherish her friendship.

Two weeks ago, when Scott and I were in the midst of some serious heartache, I would arrive at the office every morning tired and sad. Hadijah never asked what was going on but looked very concerned until one morning, after Scott and I had a tough discussion, I came into the office and put the pictures of him and the pictures of us together I keep on my desk into my bag. I wasn't angry but heartsick and seeing him only reminded me how much I loved him and how difficult things were between us at that point. I couldn't look at the pictures without crying.

This is when Hadijah broke her silence.

"What are you doing?" she asked, shocked.

I couldn't explain to her what had happened without crying so I just shook my head and tried to stare at my computer screen. When I went out for lunch and returned, the pictures were back on my desk, polished.

I put them away again silently and then went downstairs to talk to my two new interns. When I returned, like Old Faithful, there were the pictures again...back on the desk.

Despite my sadness, I couldn't help but laugh.

"Hadijah, what are you doing? I can't look at those pictures right now because I am upset and they make me cry," I told her.

"I will not let you take those pictures down. I will keep putting them back up because you need to look at them and realize how much you love that man and he loves you," she declared, defiantly. "Now, if you need to go home so you don't have to look at them, then go home. But I like looking at them so I want you to keep them on the desk."

Later that night, I got the most touching email from her that I may have ever received from anyone. She told me how much she cared about me and how much she enjoyed working for me, how she thought that Scott and I are a beautiful couple, and she then proceeded to give me advice on how not to make him crazy and how to be understanding in a long-distance relationship.

Hadijah's husband lives in Kenya so she knew exactly what she was talking about. It was practical, no-nonsense advice delivered in the most loving way possible. I felt better immediately and read and re-read the email about two dozen times before going to bed. The next morning, I thanked her profusely before noticing that she had actually taken one of the pictures and mounted it on the wall, nails and everything.

"Hadijah, why did you put the picture on the wall? I won't put it away anymore, I promise!" I said.

"Because you are stubborn but I also know that you are particular about your artwork and that you don't like holes or marks in the wall so if you take that picture down, there will be a hole in wall that you will see every day and it will bother you. So now you just can't take it down, that's all..." she giggled.

I hugged her and thanked her again. Things between me and Scott have returned to being good, in part because I go to Hadijah for her no-nonsense, Ugandan, advice almost daily, and the pictures remain on the desk and on the wall.

I think, given all that has come before, I may truly be blessed to be in Uganda.

And Hadijah, like Robert, is my blessing.