Banks and Bureaucracy and Being Called a Liar.
on Tara's Ethiopian Adventure (Ethiopia), 04/Dec/2009 14:39, 34 days ago
I have been trying to get a bank account since I got here. The bank just doesn’t seem to want my money. I guess I can’t blame them...there is not that much of it! The first time I went to the bank they told me they needed 2 photocopies of my ID as well as two passport photos. I quickly got the photocopies done and managed to get a local photography shop to create two passport photos of me by editing a photo I already had on my flash drive. I quite liked theidea that, although it looked like a fairly normal passport photo, there was a huge plate of food edited out of the picture. I was back into the bank about 20 minutes later all ready to go.However on this second attempt they told me that I needed some proof that I was a permanent resident in Ethiopia. Although quite frustrating that they hadn’t mentioned this earlier I did think it was fair enough. However it meant I had to wait for at least a month for my residents permit to be processed in Addis. I asked if they needed anything else like a letter from my employer and they said no.So I went again yesterday morning before work armed with two copies of my ID, my residents permit and two passport photos. This was nownotenough! They wanted a letter from my employee. Why? I have no idea. My colleague who went with me to make sure it all went smoothly also could not make sense of it. He has never been asked for such a thing when he has opened an account. I could understand if I wanted credit but I just wanted to put money in! As I was super busy yesterday with several one-to-one sessions followed by a two and a half hour lesson my colleague was kind enough to pass on the message to the Vice President of the university that he would need to write me a letter.So, today I had another really busy day and got my first break (apart from lunch- which doesn’t count because everyone else is out of their offices so I wouldn’t be able to collect the letter) at 3pm. Knowing that the bank shut at 4pm I thought I had plenty of time. When I got to the VPs office I found he had not yet written the letter. So I waited while he hand wrote it. It was then passed to his secretary to type up and print two copies. I then had to wait a bit for him to return to the office to sign them. The letters were then passed back to the secretary to add a special stamp. With 30 minutes to go I thought I still had plenty of time, and was about to go, when I found out I needed to take the letters to the records office for further stamping. Luckily and Indian colleague was heading the same way and was able to show me the way. A large circular stamp was added to each letter and I went to take them. It seemed this was not enough though... they produced another stamp for the date. This was followed by a lovely little stamp of a hand pointing which they positioned so that it was pointing to the ‘ Dear Sir/ madam’ part of the letter (I suppose to direct the reader to where he should start reading!).With 20 minutes to go I got a Bajaj (small 3 wheel taxi) to the bank and was perched on the front seat with the driver, with my leg hanging out the open side. I arrived with at least 10 minutes to spare but it took a while to work out where I should go. The same guy who had dealt with me yesterday motioned for me to come over. He asked me why I had come so late. What did he think? I had just been sitting around all day waiting for the most inopportune time to open a bank account? Actually... probably. He told me that it would not be possible to open a bank account as the bank had to shut in 2 minutes. I think his watch was fast but I begged away and when he saw I had everything he had requested he offered to meet me half way. We would do the paper work todayand then I will need to return tomorrow to deposit some money and open the account officially. Ok.   So we filled in the paper work and he got annoyed with me for not using my father’s name as my second name. I tried to explain the English system was different and he eventually was contented when he saw my residents permit used the same strange naming system! I then had to fill in a number of details including my monthly income. When I wrote 2150 birr he laughed and said,‘I don’t believe you’. I insisted, but he wouldn’t have any of it. He then asked how long I was staying and if I liked Ethiopia. Again he didn’t believe my answers. It is very frustrating being called a liar after a long hard day at work. He then asked if I had visited any interesting places. I told him I had been to Wenchi Crater. He told me that Ethiopians cannot afford to go to such places, it is only visitors who get to enjoy them. So I told him that the first time I went was with 40 Ethiopians from the University. Again he didn’t believe me. I was getting quite exasperated by this point! I felt it was important he believed me about my salary at least and tried to show him a document I have from VSO which explains, in Amharic and English, that I am paid at Ethiopian salary level. He refused to look at it and just continued that there is no way I earn so little. It is less than he earns. Besides, if I earned that little I would not be able to go to places like Wenchi. He said it is hardly enough money to eat with let alone to do other things. At this point I suddenly thought... oops was I supposed to have filled in my‘annual’ salary? So I checked. No, It was the‘monthly’ salary that was required. He insisted that it could not possibly be in birr and that it must be in pounds and that I had made a mistake. I insisted I had not. We agreed to disagree but I really did not like the fact he thinks I was lying. It doesn’t help that if he decides to check up on my account in a few weeks time he will be convinced that I did lie. This is because the reason I am suddenly so determined to get this bank account set up is that I need it to receive a large cash sum (about£4000) for a grant (from BandAid) that I have successfully applied for. This money is not for me. I will be using it all to build and resource a library in a local school (buying material, paying workers, buying tables chairs and books). BUT THERE IS NO WAY HE WOULD BELIEVE THAT!!