I am writing a book.
My first book.
It is autobiographical fiction.
I need an advisor and guide who is retired and has a lot of time on their hands.
This autobiographical book has to do with Africa and the African experience.
You do not have to have be Africa. You just have to know things. Everything.
Here is a question.
How common is it for writers to partner and finish such a book.
Who and What are ghost writers?
Are you someone I am looking for in the mid-west (TC area).
I am looking for a feminine sensibility since I write male.

It's quite common. A ghost writer is someone who writes for you, but does not take the credit for his/her writing (though you may choose to acknowledge the ghost writer's contribution).

My suggestion is posting your project on elance.com and guru.com; choose a ghost writer who is experienced (has a number of completed projects and a good rating on them). A typical rate (http://www.the-efa.org/res/rates.php) for a good writer is $50 to $100 per hour (typical productivity: one to three pages/hour according to the EFA resources page).