Faggie is in her early 20’s and works as a public telephone operator. In Malawi, public telephones are attended and the operator dials the number and works out how much to charge you. Faggie completed high school and has greater aspirations but jobs are hard to come by. She will stay at this job until something better comes along and the MK2,000 per month she earns helps her family make ends meet. Having said that, at the moment the maize price is inflated due to the national shortage and the family cannot afford to eat every meal. It’s possible that some days they do not eat at all.
Faggie lives with her brother, sister-in-law and their 3 children in a tiny house with no electricity. The floor is made from compacted mud, as are the bricks.
I met Faggie when I was out for a walk one day. She called out to me and asked me to be her friend. I was reluctant because I thought she wanted to be my friend so I could provide financial support. No doubt this was part of her motivation and, although I find that confronting, you have to admire her initiative. Not able to think of a reason for saying “no”, we exchanged contact details.
Faggie phones me from time to time or I wander down to where she works for a chat. Her grades do not reflect her intelligence because she struggled to pass her high school exams, but actually she is a sharp girl who wants life to be better than what it is. She would like to study nursing but needs to pass a pre-requisite unit first so she works 6 days a week and studies. Hopefully she’ll pass but then there are university fees that she will not be able to afford.
I have been to her home, at her invitation, and her sister-in-law was keen to welcome me and cook me a meal. I had limited time so I had to apologise profusely and promise to come back sometime soon. In the short time I was there, most of the neighbourhood came by to welcome me and pay their respects.
Despite the fact that the house is tiny and there is no bathroom as such, and despite the fact that it takes her a good 45 minutes to walk at a brisk pace to work, Faggie always manages to look (and smell) neat, clean and fresh (the latter being quite unusual in Malawi).
Faggie has asked me if our company can employ her. Whilst this may be possible in the future, it is not possible now and the earliest possibility is not likely to be before 2007. She has also asked us to pay her university fees but we have other commitments that make this impossible.
Besides, perhaps the greatest tragedy in this story is that Faggie represents so many who are in a similar position or worse.
1 comment:
Well it seems u r experiencing some of the hidden victims of society. What the big govt people refer to as statistics.
As you can see the problem is mostly luck o the opportunities, but all in all i would like to say progress is being slowed down coz of Aids and a sense of helplessness in the country.
I would like to applaud Agness for the fact that she wanted to repay the loan. This means that the handout syndrome is on the wane.
Well on the issue of employment pips will always go a long way to please their potential employers.
My take would be that if you want to assist these pips do it in a way which is sustainable rather than a fire fighting type of assistance.
rgds
hv a nice stay malawi is warm
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