ケニアで大学を卒業した私の最初の就職先は
誰もが知ってる大手日系商社のナイロビ事務所で
日本人GMの「エグゼキュティブアシスタント」という
名前は立派だけどよく分からないポジションを与えられた

My first job after graduating from university in Kenya was
“Executive Assistant to GM”, whatever that meant,
at Nairobi office of a very well-known Japanese trading company.

オフィスは日本人が私含め3人
ケニア人が10人ちょっとのこじんまりとした感じ

There were three Japanese staff including myself
and about 10 Kenyan staff.

大学での専攻とかは無関係で
「日本人である」というだけで雇われ
最初に与えられた仕事の一つが
オフィスの経費削減

The job was completely unrelated to what I had learnt in school,
as I got the job simply because I was Japanese.
And one of the first tasks I was given was cost reduction.

まず削るべきところは
運転手・雑務スタッフの朝ごはんからだった

The first to cut was breakfast of the drivers.

朝ごはんと言っても、食パンと紅茶のみ

Breakfast in this case was just bread and tea.

その食パンの薄っぺらいスライスを、1人3枚までと決めて
紅茶も一杯につきティーバッグ1個って

So we had to decide that each could have only
3 very thin slices of bread and 1 teabag per cup.

日本人社員に対する信頼感も
仕事へのモチベーションも
下がるだけ

This only lowered their trust for Japanese staff
as well as their motivation.

所長が豪邸に住んで
出張者が来れば豪遊して
他にも無駄な出費はたくさんあったし
運転手さんたちはもちろんそれを一番知ってた

The Japanese GM lived in a mansion,
went on drinking spree and “entertaining” visitors all the time,
and they were spending so much money on other unnecessary things.
Of course, the drivers knew that most.

塵も積もればとは言うけれど
2時間以上（うち徒歩1時間以上）かけて出勤してきて
オフィスに着く頃にはお腹ぺこぺこな彼らから
食パンとお茶という楽しみを奪うのは本当に辛かった

I understand that small things can add up,
but it was really hard to deprive them one thing that they looked forward to.
Some of them had to spend two hours to commute
(Including over 1 hour of walking)
and were starving by the time they got to the office.

みんな私の判断ではないと分かってくれていたし
最終的には妥協点でお互い合意となった

They all understood that it was not my decision.
At the end, we all managed to agree to compromise.

本当に可愛がってくれて、いろんなことを教えてくれた運転手さんたち
あれから20年以上経つけど、今でも1人1人覚えてる
無力でごめんなさい、と今でも思っています

They were all so kind and taught me so much.
I still remember each of them after more than 20 years.
Until today, I feel sorry that I was so powerless then.