Part II (Part One is here if you missed it.)

Having told the directors of my school of my intention to leave I was asked to write a resignation letter. They took this letter to immigration and told officials there that I’d no longer need the TEP. The officials apparently became angry because I should never have been working in Malawi. They demanded that I leave immediately.

I wasn’t ready to leave. As a teacher I wanted to finish the school year. I had many plans and duties still to carry out for the orphans in Ntcheu. I had no source of income in Canada and living in Malawi is much less expensive. I agreed to stay at Mount Sinai, working half days. No one was told of my reason for leaving each day at the break. We feared the government.

The arrangement was working as well as could be expected. The children asked a lot of questions and I felt guilty for leaving early each day. My colleagues avoided speaking to me because they knew something was not right and didn’t want to make things worse. One colleague showed great interest and concern.

After two weeks of this part time work I received a phone call at home. I was told not to return to school at all, ever. I was told I could come in on Saturday to collect my personal items. Apparently immigration had called the school to investigate whether or not I’d left the country as promised. This call from immigration came on the same day that my colleague stayed home from school. She had been told the day before that her contract was not being renewed.

By this time it was early June. I diligently completed the report cards and visited the day care as often as I could. One day in mid-June the directors showed up at my house to tell me I must vacate by the end of the month. The rent had been paid until the end of July but they claimed they were afraid that immigration officials would find me there. They had earlier told me immigration had no right to ask for my home address.

When I asked where I should go to live the director replied, “Don’t you have some friends you can stay with?” She was fixated on this idea that I was in Malawi to adopt a baby. Apparently she had heard that news from the same colleague whose contract hadn’t been renewed. She wouldn’t believe me when I told her that I had no intention of adopting a baby. She did assure me that I’d be paid, by a personal cheque, for the month of June.

At the end of June I moved out. No one from the school came to assist or to say goodbye. The landlady, a friend of that same colleague, stayed inside her house and didn’t acknowledge my departure.

The story doesn’t end here. The worst was yet to come.

Read Part Three.

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