One Sunday afternoon, I was in my room with my girlfriend when I received a call from Justice, a training college mate of mine. The number he called me on was a new one. Only a few people knew it and he wasn’t one of them so I was surprised when I heard his voice on the other end of the phone. I concealed my surprise and we exchanged pleasantries. I even went out of my way to explain to him why I had to change my number, “Chale Justice, people were always calling me to ask for money. At a point, I realized I wouldn’t be able to do anything substantial with my salary if I kept giving money to people so I changed my number to avoid them completely.”
He said, “So that’s why all my calls to your other number didn’t go through. I took this number from one of the guys.” After that he told me, “Bro, I had to find your number because I need your help urgently.” I asked him what the problem was and he told me he had been robbed. “They took everything,” he cried, “My TV, sound system, and money that I withdrew from my account yesterday and kept under my pillow. They took it all.” I felt so bad for him. I asked what I could do to help him. He pleaded with me, “Please take a loan for me. Every month when the bank deducts it from your salary I will pay you that same amount.”
I told him that my payslip is choked and that I have no affordability to take a loan for him but he should give me a minute and I would call him back. When we hung up, I turned to my girlfriend and discussed the problem with her. “He wants me to take a loan for him,” I concluded. “Is he someone you trust? Are you certain he will pay you the deductions?” I boldly said yes. I then explained to her that I can’t take a loan for him because of my payslip, however, I could help him with GHC1000 and give him ample time to pay it back. She said it was a good thing.
So I called Justice back and told him what I could do for him. “Oh thank you so much. God bless you. You have no idea how that money will help me through the month. I will pay it back as soon as I can.” He sent me his account details and I sent the money to him and gave him six months to pay it back. He promised that he would uphold his end of the deal.
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In December, I sent him a Whatsapp message asking him not to forget to pay the money when he receives his salary. “You have nothing to worry about, my friend. I won’t disappoint you.” When the month ended I waited to see his alert but nothing happened. I told myself that maybe he used the money for Christmas, “Let me give him until the end of January, and let’s see,” I thought. Well, January ended but no show. I was patient with him. I waited for him till February to ask him for the money. He just fed me stories upon stories. “I haven’t been able to gather money since the robbery happened. Right now I have applied for insurance money. I am certain that I will receive it soon. Just give me a little more time,” he pleaded.
I continued to wait patiently for him until the end of April. At that point, I told him, “If you don’t pay the money by next month I will start taking interest on it.” He told me he didn’t have a problem with that. Time passed and Justice made no effort to pay even GHC1 out of the money. I was so disheartened. The distance between where I live and where he lives is a six-hour drive. So I couldn’t go to his place without incurring a lot of costs. I called my friend who gave my number to him and explained everything Justice had done. My friend felt guilty. He apologized for giving out my number without speaking to me about it first. “It’s not your fault.” I told him, “I could have said no when he asked for my help but I wanted to help a friend.”
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After a while, Justice stopped answering my calls. On days he did, he would raise his voice at me as though I was at fault for asking him to pay me back the money he took from me. Sometimes I would sit on my bed and shed tears asking myself whether it was wrong for me to lend a helping hand to a friend in need. I was terribly depressed at the thought that my friend would do this to me.
Sometimes I would be on my motorbike and forget myself and veer off the road. Someone would ask, “All these for GHC1000?” No, it’s not about the money. It’s about the broken trust and betrayal that came out of all this. I don’t call him for the money anymore. If one day he decides to pay, fine. If he doesn’t pay too, he will definitely get what is coming to him. I just want to caution the readers on this page about giving out loans to friends. If it’s not money you can part with as a gift, don’t give it out as a loan. I learned this lesson the hard way.
–Elorm
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I can relate and I think a lot of people do fall into this. The challenge is mustering up the courage to do something about it. If you let him go Scot free he will do same to a lot more people and the younger ones who are watching will also be encouraged to follow his example. You and I, indeed everyone else on this platform, have a responsibility to bring such people to book. At the minimum let us get them arrested by the police and be bonded against borrowing and refusing to pay in the future.
Gone were the days when one would go all out to help another, knowing very well that it would be paid back as promised , perhaps reciprocated in another form. It’s never like that in our era. The new teaching is that, give out only what you can afford to loose because a fellow cannot be rightly predicted.