Meet Shaka

Shaka is the night guard at our housing compound, and is quickly becoming one of my favourite Sierra Leoneans. He's smart - not only part of the literate minority, he also speaks all the major dialects in SL: English, Krio, Temne, Mende, and Fula.

He's good-natured and polite, always expressing genuine gratitude when we give him leftover food or a bottle of water.

And his work ethic is tremendous. Shaka works 12 hours every night, arriving as dusk falls just before 7 p.m. and diligently keeping watch until 7 a.m.

He willingly helps out with tasks that go beyond the job description.

When Rebecca and Bremen, a pair of American students living below us, were understandably freaked out by the discovery of a hairy spider bigger than my hand inching its way through their living room, they called upon Shaka to bring the crisis under control. He calmly asked if they had a broom and, upon hearing there was none, nonchalantly climbed onto a chair and crushed the immense arachnid with his bare fist. Pretty badass, no?

It's not the only example of Shaka's quickness to be of assistance. While I don't know what normally occupies his days, this weekend he plans to spend some of the daylight hours showing Bryna and Patrick around the market to score the best deals on local produce, ensuring that they don't get gauged on prices.

For these reasons, among others, we had a house meeting and decided to give Shaka a raise. Tomorrow's a big day for him. His salary will increase by 130% - from Le 140,000 a month to 180,000.

Alternately stated, it jumps to $60/month. Or $2/day ... or $0.17/hour. And that's more than a large majority of Sierra Leoneans.

Fuck Halloween. That's frightening.