Counting blessings and saying goodbyes

 Photo: Malawi village.


We have now been in Malawi for three years  - yes, it has gone fast, yes it has been seriously challenging and yes it is practice for living in the now, accepting what is, and being incredibly grateful to be an Australian and to know that we can return to one of the most efficient, sophisticated, egalitarian and nicest places to live on the planet ... and where people generally have a great sense of humour and can laugh at themselves and life.

Then again, maybe it is all that great food, great wine, great coffee and sunshine. But, since the job is open-ended we might have a bit more Africa work to do for some time yet. Perhaps when there is no 'light' at the end of the tunnel you find it easier to accept what is. I am not sure about that but it's a good theory.

What I do know is that living for so long in undeveloped or Third World countries makes one appreciate how good we have it, despite the flaws and the fact that many things could be better and that the veneer of civilization is flimsier than we think and our time is better spent working to preserve the best we have and seeking to improve what is, instead of whinging about what is wrong.

Counting blessings I think many of our ancestors would have called it and people who lived with greater poverty and injustice than Australians today could ever recognise. The same sort of poverty and injustice which still confronts most people in the world today, even some who live in countries which call themselves developed.

And you do need to develop a sense of humour. I had to get down a very large oil painting which had slipped in its frame during the hot months I was away.

I had planned to do it when I got back from Cape Town figuring I could buy the correct tape to do the job, thinking that the painting was a good one and had been framed properly ..... fall about laughing of course .... we got the back off and there was the painting, by a good South African artist, and framed in South Africa, held in place with a few scrappy bits of packing tape. I should have known. All that guilt for nothing. Clearly whoever did the job had never heard that putting the wrong tape on can damage the paper on which the painting is done. And who would care?

So I secured it with more packing tape figuring if it had lasted this long with the 'wrong' tape it would last a bit longer and could be done properly when it got back to Oz. Cutting corners is an art form in Africa and even in the 'most developed' part of it, SA!! It reminds me of the time when we were in India and there were stories, weeks apart, about 'cutting corners' on chilli powder - one was 70% flour and dye and the other 40% brick dust!!!!
 

 But some things are beyond humour. We had to let Limited go this week because there was evidence he had allowed people into the house while we were away, in collusion with one of the guards, and some things were missing, like my hair dryer, mobile phone, four plates from our dinner set, and three bottles of wine and quite a bit of whisky, tequila, cognac (ughhh) and other alcohol. Not to mention a condom wrapper found in one of the bedrooms. Sigh. At least someone was taking precautions which, with the HIV/Aids rate may have been the only sensible act on the day.

While there was no concrete evidence he was responsible for theft, the fact is he was responsible for the house and he had the key in his pocket and when the investigator got written statements from guards and gardener and others about what had happened, there was no choice, for it was a breach of trust.

There had been a party of sorts I am sure and perhaps more than one and no doubt it  was all fun and games in the Malawian way where both men and women think nothing of having lovers and often get into trouble because of it. This place is a veritable sex-fest but perhaps that is because life is short, often hard and often painful. Then again, you would think all the more reason to ensure that when you had a good life, you kept hold of it.

But, after four years, well, three and a half with no problems because it seems this happened in the past six months, it is just sad. It is sad because it is a betrayal of trust but mostly it is sad because this was such a good job - one of the highest paid of its kind in Malawi and it came with big Christmas and birthday bonuses, one tries to help, and accommodation with water and electricity supplied.

He will be lucky to get another job as good and while company policy had to be applied, it has been as lenient as possible and hopefully he will get another job. One could ask what on earth went on in his mind to risk so much, more so because he is the only one of his four surviving siblings with a job and his mother raises four orphaned grand-children? But it is often the way of it in Africa and a common story.

There is a mindset which is hard to understand for outsiders - then again, it is also possible that he thought he would be okay because he had paid for spells to protect him. Yes, it happens. And yes, they believe it. Although you can only shake your head at some of the stories like the guy who stole a television set and who had a spell from the witch-doctor to make himself invisible except of course, the television set was not invisible. And neither was he actually, but when the television was found in his house, that was the end of his job and he also had a good job, well paid and with a future.

But you need to become philosophical. In such situations you do the best you can and leave the rest to fate. One presumes that Andrew has taken note of the lesson, for he is still working for us, and while he knew that was happening and did not tell us - well they can't because it breaches tribal rules - he was not complicit enough to lose his job.

Sad, sad, sad but mostly for Limited although I had grown fond of him, and I think he of me as he was nearly in tears when he came to say goodbye after he resigned. Although I don't put too much credence in it. The reality of Africa is that we are muzungus and most Malawians resent us. I suspect they also think we are stupid or soft, and so do the most insane things themselves and lose their jobs in the doing.

Although sometimes you wonder if there is unconscious motivation so they can go back and sit outside their house in the village. He is 42 and that is an age many Malawians don't reach and if they do, don't live much past it.

But, moving on, we will replace him in time although not for the moment and Andrew is looking after both houses and working very hard, grateful I am sure, to have survived.

It is hard not to become jaundiced in this country where 'shitting in their own nest' as one could put it, seems a traditional pastime at the personal and the national. 

But back to counting blessings.