Voice of an African Nation

BY JENIECE TORANZO, MESA, ARIZONA, USA - At first I wasn't sure how my boss and his wife would take the news when I told them about Zambia. I work for a small family owned law firm. There are only two secretaries including me. So finding time to go on vacation can be a little hard sometime because I only have one person to cover for me and she is the boss' daughter. She just had a baby and now only works part time, so it's even harder for me to get time off.

I decided to just go for it and tell them. What's the worst that could happen? I guess there's that possibility that I could lose my job if they didn't agree with me going. So one day, when my boss' wife came into the office and she was in the same room as my boss, I decided to tell them both right then and there. I must admit, I was very nervous. The first thing that my boss said when I told them was "you can't go." My mouth dropped and I had a shocked look on my face. He then said "you can't go until I go. I have to go first." After that, they both laughed and said that I could go. They then started asking even more questions about the trip. They told me to go ahead and go and that they would figure something out to cover my position for the time that I will be gone. The wife said that she would even step in and cover for me, which made me feel good about my decision. I then knew that it was going to be ok. I thought that I might have a little hope because I knew that they love to travel. Twice a year, they travel all over Europe. So they are big travel bugs. Their daughter (who is the other secretary that I work with) also loves to travel since she grew up traveling. So she was also happy to hear about my news. Especially, since she has told me in the past, that I should travel as much as possible before I get married and have kids. Which that won't be happening any time soon.

Since that day that I told them about Africa, my boss would out of the blue, come talk to me about it. I didn't realize it, but one of the times that we were talking about it, he confessed to me that he has always wanted to go to Africa and that it has always been a dream of his to go. He then took me to his office and showed me his pictures and objects that he had displayed, which was an African safari like theme. I didn't realize it until I actually looked even closer to everything in his office. He is a big time Land Rover fan and knows that they are driven in Africa. In fact, he even owns five of them! And a few weeks ago I left work early to go with him and his daughter and go test drive the new Land Rover / Range Rovers at the dealership. It was exciting and nerve-wracking to go through the test drive course. Overall, it was amazing even though everyone else was laughing at me on how scared I was.

I asked my boss why he never went to Africa since he and his wife often travel to Europe and once to Mexico. "Because my wife won't go. She won't go anywhere where they don't speak English." A few times he has joked around and mentioned that he wanted to go with me, but that he couldn't be out of the office for the amount of time that we will be there. I think he knows, I least I hope so, that it won't exactly be a vacation trip and that I will be working night and day on this project. It's funny and relieving to see how excited he is for me. It makes me laugh every time he talks about it because he reminds me of a little kid in a candy shop. The excitement is my reassurance and I know that I am blessed to be able to have this opportunity. I am lucky to have a boss that is so understanding. I will just have to bring a little Arican souvenir back for him. Although I know it won't be the same, I guess it will be as close as it's gonna get for him. At least for now, until he can convince his wife to go.