Last night I was watching Gloria Steinem on W5. She noted that women of the world do 70% of the labour but own only 1% of the property. In 2011, this is an incredibly disturbing fact. Being a woman who owns property I often take for granted how lucky I am to have been born and educated in Canada.
Today was Mother’s Day in Malawi. Tomorrow workers will have a day off in honour of this holiday. Mothers in Malawi are by far the hardest working people I have ever known. Let me outline a typical day in the life of Florence, the wife of my good friend, Kalirani.
Both Florence and I are elementary school teachers but Florence is so much more. As I’ve mentioned in the past, elementary school teachers in Malawi all want to teach secondary school because the salary is at least triple. Florence is not unlike her elementary teaching peers.
A typical weekday for Florence begins at about 3:00am. Upon waking she spends 90 minutes studying for her secondary school equivalency tests. She is taking 6 night school classes to complete her final year of secondary school. After her morning study session, Florence starts a fire to heat water for cooking and bathing. She then begins to prepare breakfast for her husband who will rise at 6:00. Instead of sitting around waiting for the fire to heat the water Florence washes some of her family’s clothes. Finally she hangs the clothes on the line and takes her own bath. Once Kalirani is awake, he goes to church and she begins to prepare the food they will sell to the other teachers at lunch time. She leaves the house around 7:00, always cheerful and grateful to see another day.
Her school is a short walk down the road. She teaches grade 8 in a class of about 80 students. Like teachers here she is expected to complete a lot of redundant testing and assessments. Each child is to receive some sort of personal written evaluation each day.
Florence returns home at about 3pm, has a bit of lunch, which is by now cold. She then takes the clothes off the line and begins another load of washing. She might also have to carry a 50kg bag of maize to the local mill for grinding. She is fortunate enough to have a wheel barrow to transport the maize. The line at the mill is usually long and provides her some opportunity for socializing.
At 5:00 Florence goes over her notes for whichever class she is to attend that evening and by 6:00 she is gone, back to school. Each class is for one hour. Some nights she will attend 2 classes.
After her evening classes Florence returns home to eat a late dinner with her family. She is lucky to have boys at home who are very helpful in preparing food. When she arrives home she may just need to put the finishing touches on the meal.
After dinner Florence and Kalirani watch the news while she dozes in the chair. By 9:00 she admits defeat and heads off to bed.
On the weekends, Florence attends classes from 12 until 4. In the morning she may do her hair, attend to church business, visit an ailing neighbour or mend Kalirani’s clothes.
Florence works hard every day. She welcomed me into her home with no reservations and with an open heart and mind. This is a mother, like so many Malawian mothers, who deserves a day to be honoured and pampered.
Happy Mother’s Day to all Malawian mothers.
