Best $2 for an hour of work I have ever spent

Before moving to Africa we knew that by American standards labor would be considerably cheaper.  Little did we realize how hard the workers would work for the amount they are paid.  I have seen such hard work in our domestic, Joyce, and our gardener, Obit.  When looking for a house, we wanted one with a large lawn so Adalyn would have plenty of room to play.  We also wanted a private back yard and I feel like we got exactly what we were looking for with our home.

Of course with Mark gone from 5:30am to 6pm every week day, he was not up to doing yard work on the weekends.  With the vast amount of labor workers willing to do just about anything we figured a gardener was perfect.  Originally the owners of our house hired a gardening service.  It consisted of a group of 5 men with their own equipment doing about an hour of work mowing, trimming, racking, etc each week.  I did not have much luck with communication between myself and the group of men, nor the owner of the company so we parted ways.  Part of the gardening service also provided pool care, where 2 additional men would come once per week to brush the pool, adjust the chemicals and clean the filtration system.  Since they were a part of the gardening service we severed ties with them at the same time.

I did not have any luck finding another gardening service but thankfully we found Obit through our neighbors who have had him as their gardener for 3 years and the neighbors across the street have employed him for 14 years.  Both of which had nice lawns so we gave it a shot.  Obit comes to our home from 8:30-3:30 every Wednesday for $16 US.  He originally cost $15 but told me that every March he gets a $1 raise, and I was quite proud of him for asking for a raise so we upped his pay.

Luckily our home also came with quite a few gardening tools and an electric mower.  I rarely see a gas mower here, every gardener is carrying an extension cord over their shoulder as they mow.  It is also customary to bag all clippings, which to me seems time consuming but when telling a neighbor that in the US we would let the clippings shoot out the mower and lay on the lawn, he gave me a look of disgust.  Another time consuming tasks is weeding the driveway.  Most driveways here are brick so weeds pop up between the bricks constantly.  Obit will spray them but then sits on a paint can and individually pulls out each weed in our large 3 car drive way.

Of course he is trimming the bushes, raking the leaves, but he also takes care of our sprinklers which seem to need a new pipe or head every month.  He will plant whatever flowers or plants I come home with and even cut down a dead tree for us.  I was quite surprised he cut down an entire tree with a hatchet in the matter of a day, pulling out the stump with his bare hands and all.

Obit cut down a tree between these two, almost as tall.  I was impressed.

I was wondering what we would do with the tree, but he preceded to cut it up and Joyce took it home for fire wood.  The trash company here will take all our clippings and dead limbs, which is nice since I am not sure where I could even dispose of them.

Every week Obit also cleans our pool.  He brushes it and I take care of the chemicals and cleaning the filter system.  Obit will do anything I ask of him, though he will not sit at the table to eat his lunch.  He prefers to sit in the grass, but at least he enjoys my cooking, or maybe he complains to Joyce but since they talk in another language I have no idea.  Occasionally I cannot understand Obit's English so we will communicate through Joyce and everyone has a good laugh at it.  I also cannot get Obit to use our restroom, or in fact come into the house, even when it's raining.  If I am talking to him in the front lawn and want to show him something in the back, though it's quicker to go through the house, he won't do it and always walks around.

Obit wears a blue uniform every time he comes, which is common among most of the gardeners.  Adalyn thinks every man we see in a blue uniform in Obit, and will wave and call his name at them.  I have actually enjoyed seeing the friendship between all the gardeners in the neighborhood.  Obit will stop to chat with them, and they always wave at me when I drive by.  Some people have their gardener work every day so it's nice to see such friendly faces all the time.  I have probably met more gardeners than I have neighbors.

Obit is very quite but with a huge smile greeting me daily.  Since he is not much of a talker, I don't know a whole lot about him but he did say that his wife works at a hospital and he has 3 grown children who live near him in a township called Mamelodi.  Obit will take the taxis everyday as his walk would be 2+ hours each way.  He is a wonderful worker and very nice man.  Adalyn enjoys following him around the lawn, using her own broom when he is sweeping and helping him pull weeds.  I am very thankful to have found him and enjoy seeing him at the neighbor's home throughout the week.