My Experience With Bright, A Ghanaian Uber Driver

I’m exceedingly generous. Probably too generous. My family often jokingly says that if I come into ownership of a million dollars that it’d be done in a week, and it’s not because of excessive spending on things that I want. They believe that I would give it all away. If someone is in need, I can’t resist helping.

On March 7th, 2022 I met an Uber Driver: Bright.

Sidenote: I love Uber because I get to meet lots of different people, and listen to their stories. It most definitely adds color to my life.

Back to the story: In this particular instance, my Uber Driver told me that although he drives full time and he enjoyed meeting different people, it was merely a means to an end. What he really wanted to do was storytelling. And he was saving from his Uber trips to purchase a camera.

I’m a storyteller too. I understood all too well being in a situation where you must do things which you are not passionate about in order to be able to do the things which you are in fact passionate about. I most definitely identified with this young man.

The types of stories that he wanted to tell also resonated with me. For the past 7-8 years, I’ve been on a quest to tell African and Caribbean stories authentically. I wanted our food, our dance, our music and our culture to be shared by us and not interlopers. He seemed to have a similar passion.

Even though a few weeks prior, I had already been scathed by another person who I’d tried to help, his story and passion resonated with me soundly enough for me to offer to make my DSLR camera and a newly purchased drone available to this Uber driver who I’d just met. I told him that I was a student and during the semester I’d be spending most of my days in class. The camera and drone would mostly be sitting at home, until I went on vacation. It seemed right to let someone this passionate use it. I also told them that I had just been burnt by someone who I’d tried to help a couple of months prior and that he shouldn’t make me regret this. He pleaded honesty and promised that he’d take care of my devices.

I made the offer, but didn’t loan him my devices that same day. I wanted to actually have time to go on a few excursions with him before I would feel fully comfortable handing him my devices. But he seemed enthusiastic and he texted asking for photos that I’d taken with my camera. So five days after our meeting I told him that he could come for the drone and camera.

Bright took and returned my devices quite a few times, so for the most part, I trusted that they were in good hands. Unbeknownst to me, my trouble would begin on May 11th. I had the camera in my possession, but he still had my drone, and the time where I would need it was coming. I sent him a message on WhatsApp, to which he hurriedly responded.

[9:44 PM, 5/11/2022] Bright: Please I will be in Accra next week friday

Am at my late father’s funeral 

I didn’t bring the drone with me here, its secured at my place in Accra so as soon as i get to accra i will hand it over you you 🙏🏾

But I thought nothing of it. He told me that he was attending his late father’s funeral in Kumasi, but he’d be back on the 20th of May and would bring the drone back to me. As per our previous experiences, I had nothing to worry about, or so I thought…

The 20th came, and I heard nothing from Bright but I was too deep into exam world to make something of it. On the morning of the 22nd, I sent him these messages:

[6:34 AM, 5/22/2022] Chadia Mathurin: Hey.

[6:35 AM, 5/22/2022] Chadia Mathurin: How are you?

[6:35 AM, 5/22/2022] Chadia Mathurin: Did you make it to Accra on Friday?

[6:35 AM, 5/22/2022] Chadia Mathurin: Sorry about the loss of your dad

I didn’t get a response from him.

The next time I contacted him was the 24th. I was done with my exams and I really wanted to use my drone. Both of the numbers which I had to contact him were switched off, and he wasn’t responding to WhatsApp messages. As a matter of fact, using an app called Last Seen, I was able to tell that he hadn’t come online at all. To be quite honest, my initial thought was that something happened to this guy; not that he he was being malicious or dishonest.

I didn’t know much about his family, but I hopped on to Facebook and found a couple of his friends. I managed to make contact with two of them, both of whom told me that this type of behavior was very unlike Bright. I grew even more worried, and I put aside my anxiety about the drone. My detective skills – which I didn’t know I had – were put into motion.

In a matter of hours I was able to gather photos, and I was able to find the registration number of his car through some photos that I’d taken standing next to it. In my Facebook search I was able to see that he was last active on the app on the 19th of May, and from his Facebook profile, I found that we had a couple of Facebook Groups in common. I contacted one of the group founders to ask him whether he knew Bright, and he told me he didn’t but he was very helpful. With his help, I was able to trace the car registration number. It wasn’t registered in Bright’s name, but the young man in whose name it was registered was quite helpful. He shared with me that Bright had texted him just a few days prior, and he was open enough with me to share Bright’s NEW number.

So Aha! Bright was alive and well.

I called him from a number that he wasn’t familiar with and he picked up the call. I said hello, and he greeted with an almost exuberant greeting. I could distinctly hear that it was Bright’s voice on the other line. I said, “Bright, this is Chadia. When can I get the drone?” Immediately, the person on the other end of the line went into a high pitched, mousy tone and identified himself as Nathan. It would be funny – how this grown man decided to adopt the voice of a mouse to disguise himself – only if I’d been able to retrieve my drone. But it’s not, because I’m still in search of Bright.

“Nathan” said that he didn’t know Bright; that he didn’t know anything of the drone that I was speaking of. Even after I told him that he texted someone about having the papers for a car he had purchased transferred to his name, he denied. Even after I told him that the mobile money account attached to the account had his name on it, he denied. That was when my ire rose.

I called one of his friends who had told me that Bright did not seem to be the kind of person to do this to share with him that Bright very much seemed like the kind of person who would do this. I told him that I found Bright’s new number, and that Bright pretended that he was someone else. He was shocked. The friend would eventually call to try to make contact with him, and the friend was successful.

The friend called back to tell me that Bright said that he was in a tight place and had used my drone as collateral/security for a loan of 1000GHS. My ire rose even further. What I was hearing was pure madness. This man had used my drone as collateral to secure a loan 1/5 of its value.

I couldn’t believe it.

And according to a saying in my country, “Prick me you not getting blood”.

This was someone I was kind to. This was someone who I sought to help attain his aspirations and he was being a total fool.

It’s 20 days since I first asked for the drone. Bright nor his friend can tell me when I will get the device back. I have texted both of them multiple times to find out where he used the drone for collateral so that I could go pick it up, but none of them have responded. The police have said that this is a “civil matter” because I willingly loaned the drone. They are willing to help if I can find his address. The friend has has stopped taking my calls. The poor guy in whose name the car is registered doesn’t seem to be answering my calls further, [and I understand because this does not have anything to do with him] and all I’m left with are my thoughts.

I will say this:

1. Bright is not my first burn in this business of generosity, but he is most definitely my last.
2. I have learnt that I can’t save everyone from suffering. Furthermore, suffering doesn’t kill. It builds character in those who learn to treat it well.
3. I have learnt not to disrupt someone’s process. Bright had not endured his process and I gave him a responsibility that he wasn’t ready for. Bright could not appreciate the value of my drone because I interrupted his process. Looking back he doesn’t seem to have done much with it since it’d been in his possession, and he laid it down for 1/5 of the price.
   

In Parts 2 and 3 of My Experience With Bright, A Ghanaian Uber Driver I will explore how my experience with Bright has shaped my perceptions about Aid in Africa, and even how I will personally be altering my approach to assisting others, moving forward. I’m currently reading a book called Dead Aid that has been making me think about whether aid is at all helpful to Africa, and then this?

I also want to explore how “The Friend’s” [presumably an upright man of great princples] response to my ire at Bright’s total lack of principles brought me to the realization of how embedded corrupt attitudes are in this country.

For now, tata!

And in the meantime, You can purchase a digital copy of my Bestseller, “Being A Virgin Isn’t Enough“

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P.S.

1. I think it’s important to note that I’ve been in Ghana for almost three years now. Until today, my utterances and experiences shared about the country have only been positive. But I’ve had some bad experiences also; like this one with Bright. I don’t think it fair, that in my quest to change narratives about the continent, that I tell only one side. Both sides need to be shared. This is simply to say, that you can expect wonderful stories about my time here too. But for now, Bright’s actions have been the catalyst to me writing again.
   
2. I’m far from naïve. So please, spare me the analysis/judgement of my actions. I believe in impacting my community; in facilitating the growth of as many people as I can. Yes. I knew that there was a possibility that Bright could abscond with my drone, but I chose to believe in the little bit of goodness which can be found in humanity. This time, it didn’t pay off, and in time, I may simply have to adjust my approach to impact.