I’ve been back in Toronto for 9 days now. More seems to be happening in Malawi since I left than it did while I was there!
I wrote earlier that we decided to fire Maemory. We gave her two weeks notice which meant her last day of work would have been September 12. Unfortunately her work ethic continued to deteriorate
and I had to send her a message telling her to vacate her job immediately. On Monday, she failed to prepare breakfast for the children. In fact, she wasn’t even at the Day Care centre when the
children arrived for breakfast. Kelita was home sick with malaria. The following day Mabvuto went back to ensure things were running smoothly. He found Maemory sharing food with a friend and her
friend’s baby. I wrote to her telling her that the food is for the orphans not for her friends. Upon receiving this note Maemory told Mabvuto she’d go and take the issue up with the people at Social
Welfare. We both thought this was fine since the S.W. people don’t pay her salary and would be furious at her recent behaviour. They have very strict rules about how the centre should be run.
Meanwhile MP found two pieces of land for me. They are side by side and together total about 1.6 acres. This enough to grow maize, beans and build a small building to house the Day Care. I have not yet been able to send the money. I am trying to find the most economical and safe way to send cash to Malawi. Does anyone have any ideas?
Needless to say, I broke open my bottle of “Wild Africa” liquor last night. Grade 1, back from Africa… The need was great.
Tags: africa, itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi, orphan care
Since I’ve been back home things in Malawi have not slowed down. I’ve spoken to Mabvuto several times on the phone and he continues to do a great job of supervising the children and the cooks. One frustrating thing has proven to be my love of sleep set against the 6 hour time difference. I’ve received a few late night phone calls including one call at 3:00 am on the morning of the first day of school. The pace of life is much slower in malawi than here. Work expectations are far less demanding. The need for sleep is not quite as important to them as it is to me. Let’s face it, few have my need and love for sleep!
The late night phone calls were so that I could speak to the cook, Maemory. Maemory is the cook who I noticed had not been working very hard these past few weeks. It seems she arrived at 7:30 am on Monday to pick up the food for the week. Kelita was suffering from malaria and didn’t report for work that day. When Mabvuto told me the cook had shown up at that early hour I was confused. It takes 40 minutes to walk from the day care to his house and the children eat breakfast at 7:00. I wondered how she’d arrived so early.
After collecting as much as she could carry, Maemory asked Mabvuto if he planned to visit the day care that day. He told her he did not plan to visit. Later in the morning he decided he should go. Upon his arrival he found no one there. The cook was nowhere to be found and no children were hanging around as they usually did. Eventually Mabvuto found Maemory in her house preparing food. When he asked why she was preparing the food in her house she told him it was because her husband was sick and she was caring for him.
The children eventually appeared and collected their lunches. They ate at the Day Care building. Mabvuto asked them if they had eaten breakfast. They said they had come but no one was there so they went to school with no food. During my middle of the night phone conversation with Maemory I asked her why she had not prepared breakfast. She told me it was because there was no flour left. I
was surprised and angry to hear this. We have never run out of flour in the past. Why now? Why had she not told Mabvuto when he was there on Friday? Why had she not come early in the morning or over the weekend to collect more maize?
After some reflection it was decided that Maemory should be fired. She was given two weeks notice and will cease working for us on September 12. We have suspected all along that she and her family
are helping themselves to our supplies. Last week when we showed up unexpectedly she couldn’t find the cups. They had been scattered among several houses. The charcoal is disappearing far more quickly than it should and Kelita advised us to take the salt to Mabvuto’s house as she suspected Maemory and her family of using it for their own cooking.
I feel bad having to fire this young lady but her work ethic has been poor from the beginning. It may look like sour grapes for the deceit she and her family pulled on me earlier in the summer. I tried hard
to be objective and give her many chances to prove herself but if the Social Welfare officials saw her preparing food in her home and learned that she didn’t prepare breakfast, I’d be reprimanded.
I’m the one who wanted to hire Maemory. Mabvuto and the man from S.W. liked Kelita. I guess I should trust their judgement!
Oh well, it’s all about learning.
Tags: africa, itatu, itatu orphan care, jennifer douma, malawi, oprphan care
