House help

Well, we succumbed to peer pressure.  On our first day in Africa, and many times thereafter we were told that we should think of hiring “house help.”  Apparently, we would be thought of a stingy if we didn’t.

Well, after living in Kenya, I saw many people who hired women or men to help clean the house and cook.  I just never thought I would be that person. 

Yet, life here is very dirty (you should see my black feet!) and hard to clean.  We don’t have a swifter here, and houses need to be mopped everyday.  So, I finally agreed that I would get a PART-TIME maid.

To begin the process, we decided to get a maid that could work part-time for my friend Lavonne, and part-time for us.  There was already a maid on campus whose former employers just left, so we were asked to interview her.

We talked to her, and she seemed very nice until she wanted a higher salary.  She was offered  30,000 Kwacha for the month. (This is about $82.)  I know this seems like very little, but apparently this is a really good salary in Malawi.  Well this woman was not satisfied with that and told us that she wanted between 35,000-42,000 ($96- $115).

As I sat there and listened to her request (she was being offered a full-time contract to be split 3 ways), I didn’t say a word.  To me, this was not a big difference that we were talking about.  So, I thought she was being reasonable.  Yet, the others I was with were saying that it was way too much money.  Thus, I went and talked to my teacher’s assistant.

My teacher’s assistant is a Malawian and knows figures better than me.  She also has a maid in her home.  Here it is normal for even Malawians to have maids!  So, as I asked the price, she said that her family pays her full-time live-in maid less than 10,000 kwacha ($27) a month!  She also told me that even people with college degrees are barely making 35,000 a month!!!

Wow, what a shift in thinking!  I went from thinking that this woman might be seeking a fair salary, to understanding that even though it is not a lot of money, she was asking for something unreasonable.

In the end we talked to some other families on campus.  We found a woman whose husband is the tennis instructor here.  She is very kind, trustworthy, and a hard worker.  And her salary . . . 16,000 kwacha a month ($43 dollars), of which I only pay half!!

*On a side note, we were told not to pay her more that that rate, because her husband only makes a little bit more than that.  We are planning on raising her salary, or paying her extra in food as we go.