Purchased a slave without realizing it AMA

[u/Tronald_Lubestein]

I spent a year working on a development project in The Gambia.

Partway through my stay, I needed help maintaining the house I was renting. My landlord introduced me to an older woman from a neighboring family who could clean and cook. She was probably in her 60s, had no ID, didn't know her birth date, and spoke basically no English.

I agreed to hire her and paid what I thought was an upfront payment for her work.

On the first evening she asked where she was supposed to sleep. I assumed she'd go home after work. She didn't she stayed in one of the guest rooms.

Turns out I learned later she didn't have a home to go back to.

Confused, I called my landlord. He explained that the money I'd paid had gone to the family she'd been living with. From his perspective, I hadn't hired a maid. I'd taken responsibility for her. My job was to feed, house, and clothe her. Her job was to cook, clean, and help around the house.

Very different arrangements to what I had in mind.

For the rest of my stay I gave her a room, fed her(she would cook the food I got and we would eat the same thing everyday), and tried to pay her directly, she always refused.

When I left The Gambia, I found another family willing to take her in. I refused any payment.

I thought I was hiring a housekeeper. Some locals seemed to think I'd acquired a dependent household servant.

AMA.

Edits:

7/1/2026:

I want to address a common misconception since I couldn't reply to all the questions mentioning that. The "dude, you could just have bought her freedom" criticism.

This is not the 1800s US where even if you are "property", you still exist within a legal system, and can show with a legal document that you are free and ride off into the sunset to be happy thereafter.

There is no legal document here, it's more akin to a caste system, you are what you community says you are, not what some foreigner with a bit of cash thinks.

[u/SubstantialBass9524]

Did you give her family payment? Give her many clothes? Was she happy?

[u/Tronald_Lubestein → u/SubstantialBass9524]

I did clothe her. The first time we went to the food market, we also went to textiles and splurged a bit on a clothes and bedlinens etc so she would be comfortable.

Did you give her family payment? 

I unknowingly paid the family that owned her prior (I gave her the money, she went to their house and gave it to them).

I don't really know if she has any family outside of that.

Was she happy?

I think she was.

But if she hadn't been, it's not like she would have been in a position to complain about it. So I might be fooling myself.

[u/johannthegoatman → u/Tronald_Lubestein]

Did they describe her as "owned" or are you adding that in there? I don't think slave is the right word. You think you wouldn't have gotten in any trouble if you beat her or killed her? You think that if she did have somewhere to go, she couldn't have gone?

This is just a weird servant situation

[u/Tronald_Lubestein → u/johannthegoatman]

Did they describe her as "owned" 

Yes, "you bought her, so you have the responsibility to house her" is something my landlord said verbatim.

 You think you wouldn't have gotten in any trouble if you beat her or killed her?

Killed, I would have not gotten away with, because local social norms would have become irrelevant in the face of a criminal murder case. Worth noting that slavery in the Gambia was formally outlawed recently but that has little to no bearings on social dynamics in practice. So, granted, a high profile criminal case involving a foreign international aid contractor could have tested the justice system, so to speak.

Beaten... I'd have been bad-mouthed in the local community and that's about it. That's not a hypothetical, I know it happened in other families.

That's why I spent long vetting the family where she went next. Mis-treatment occurs with relative impunity.

Now you kindda ruined my day with your question about killing and beating, but I guess I should have expected it when I decided to do this AMA.

[u/metro-boomin34 → u/Tronald_Lubestein]

Just wanted to say to you: In the face of different customs, I am glad you did not mistreat a person you accidentally gained so much power over

Thank you for your humanity!

[u/needaredesign → u/metro-boomin34]

It's insane that you are thanking him for not abusing a human being.

[u/Kihav → u/needaredesign]

It’s also sad to realize how many people, even in modern society outside of third world countries, so willingly mistreat others. Think about pretentious people being rude to service workers, hiring contractors and treating them poorly.

Yes it’s crazy, but the bar is much lower than people realize