Evia 17th march
Evia cleans house for us and lives in a building attached to ours. She has her own entrance to this house and is very pleased because many domestics either have to live out (which would be more expensive) or live in the house. She is Zimbabwean in her 30s. I am not sure how old but she has a 13yr old daughter. She went home to Zimbabwe last week to buy a plot of land. She was so proud of herself that when she returned that the first thing she did was to show us her receipts which proved she had bought land. I suggested she frame them. She has saved enough money to buy this land working for George since July 2006. George pays her 600 pula a month which is about 50 pounds a month. Along with the accommodation, which consists of fairly big sitting cum living room with ensuite bathroom, she also gets her food and two days off a week. Before you start screaming: 'is that all she gets?' in our defence, this is more than the average of 500 pula a month without any food or accommodation thrown in. I am not being defensive (I hope) but just trying to paint a picture of life here. White people pay £500 a month for their rented house but £50 a month for someone to work for them. Unfair? Yes! But for Evia, who is without working permit it is a fortune. This money is enough for her to send money home to her mother every month to keep her sister, her mum, her daughter and her sister’s three children. And save enough to buy this plot of land. She intends to start saving so that she can have a house built on the land. She is hoping to start by august and have it all finished before George’s contract is finished. Lots of Botswanas want the Zimbabweans to go home cos they feel they are thieves. But they have a reputation of being hard working.
When I first came I thought having a maid was the height of idleness but everyone tells me that people need work and if I did it myself then Evia and people like her would be penniless. The position in Zimbabwe is so bad that thousands come over every week and most of them get bussed right back cos they are entering illegally. Apparently the situation is worse in South Africa where the Zimbabweans are flooding the country looking for work.
Recently, Evia’s sister Rutendo came over to find work too. She stays with Evia in her room while looking. She had been getting piece work which has earned her about 20 pula a day (less than 2 pounds). She went for an interview last Thursday to work for a Motswana family. They wanted her to work 7 days a week looking after 4 children and do all the cleaning. She was offered 270 pula (just over 20 pounds) a month with accommodation.
When they came back they told me about the job they were uncertain whether to take it. I asked how much they had asked for. Rutendo had asked to be paid 500 pula but the woman offered 270. Evia asked me if I would allow my sister to work under these conditions for this money. Ahhhh. This was a really difficult question. To me 270 for so much work with no days off seemed pure exploitation of this girl who had no papers to work in this country. She has a passport but no work permit. Evia doesn’t have one either. They cost about 100 pounds and these women just can’t afford it. But then 270 pula was more than nothing and it was a job instead of looking for irregular piece work every day.
I asked them what the Motswana woman was like. Did they think she would be good to Rutendo (allegedly a lot of people here beat their maids)? How did she feel about no days off for church and meeting friends (they are both church goers). Eventually they left to talk about it. I really didn’t want to give advice. And for once I buttoned my lip and didn’t offer any. They came back next day to say they had decided she wasn’t going to take it and just look further. I was glad. I don’t think it is right for her to take this job. Since then she has found work three days a week with a white family, has a regular piece job with a neighbour here and another job on a Saturday- all of which adds up to around 500 pula.
They are really hard working women who just want a chance to save to help their families. They would stay in Zimbabwe if they could. They are proud of it but not what is happening there. Evia’s daughter lives in Bulawayo cos Evia is paying for her to go to school. She lives alone at 13. Gets herself up for school, shops, and cooks and cleans for herself. She lived with an uncle last year but Evia felt he wanted too much money to look after her so the girl has to manage her own money and organise herself to get to school, shop and clean at 13. I think of my own children (sorry Vicky and Sophie if you read this) who I worried about going to university flats at 18. You really do have to grow up quicker here. They are the lucky ones. So many are Aids orphans. Too many.
Anyway Evia’s daughter (Precious) won a merit in Maths recently and we gave Evia some money to buy her a present to congratulate her. Evia bought a pair of fur lined practical boots because it will soon be winter there and she wanted her to be warm. I can’t believe it ever gets cold enough to need boots. Imagine getting a merit in Maths when you don’t have your mum asking you to do your homework or get you off to school. That’s dedication and deep desire to do well. Education means so much more to people here. They want it to be a way out of poverty.
Evia can’t wait for Mugabe to die either cos she wants to live and work in her own country but like thousands of Zimbabweans who have to risk being picked up by police and sent home, she has no choice.
When I was having reflexology yesterday at the local spa. Yep there are spas. In fact there are a lot of them. The woman who was doing my feet told me she came from Zimbabwe. She was ‘coloured’ not black. She told me her husband and to children still lived in Bulawayo but she had to come to Botswana to work. She used to have a business of her own but it collapsed and she moved here. She has all the papers and goes back every fortnight to see her family. It is a three hour drive but takes her nearer 7 because of the checkpoints and border control. She told me she will have to reduce her visits to once a month because she only has 4 pages left in her passport and she is not entitled to get it renewed for another two years.
Without me even asking, she told me that she wished Mugabe was dead. She said he has ruined the country and she fearer that next year’s elections would be rigged and he would get back in. She can’t understand why the rest of the world had abandoned Zimbabwe.
I had intended keeping each of these short so I’ll stop now.
Evia cleans house for us and lives in a building attached to ours. She has her own entrance to this house and is very pleased because many domestics either have to live out (which would be more expensive) or live in the house. She is Zimbabwean in her 30s. I am not sure how old but she has a 13yr old daughter. She went home to Zimbabwe last week to buy a plot of land. She was so proud of herself that when she returned that the first thing she did was to show us her receipts which proved she had bought land. I suggested she frame them. She has saved enough money to buy this land working for George since July 2006. George pays her 600 pula a month which is about 50 pounds a month. Along with the accommodation, which consists of fairly big sitting cum living room with ensuite bathroom, she also gets her food and two days off a week. Before you start screaming: 'is that all she gets?' in our defence, this is more than the average of 500 pula a month without any food or accommodation thrown in. I am not being defensive (I hope) but just trying to paint a picture of life here. White people pay £500 a month for their rented house but £50 a month for someone to work for them. Unfair? Yes! But for Evia, who is without working permit it is a fortune. This money is enough for her to send money home to her mother every month to keep her sister, her mum, her daughter and her sister’s three children. And save enough to buy this plot of land. She intends to start saving so that she can have a house built on the land. She is hoping to start by august and have it all finished before George’s contract is finished. Lots of Botswanas want the Zimbabweans to go home cos they feel they are thieves. But they have a reputation of being hard working.
When I first came I thought having a maid was the height of idleness but everyone tells me that people need work and if I did it myself then Evia and people like her would be penniless. The position in Zimbabwe is so bad that thousands come over every week and most of them get bussed right back cos they are entering illegally. Apparently the situation is worse in South Africa where the Zimbabweans are flooding the country looking for work.
Recently, Evia’s sister Rutendo came over to find work too. She stays with Evia in her room while looking. She had been getting piece work which has earned her about 20 pula a day (less than 2 pounds). She went for an interview last Thursday to work for a Motswana family. They wanted her to work 7 days a week looking after 4 children and do all the cleaning. She was offered 270 pula (just over 20 pounds) a month with accommodation.
When they came back they told me about the job they were uncertain whether to take it. I asked how much they had asked for. Rutendo had asked to be paid 500 pula but the woman offered 270. Evia asked me if I would allow my sister to work under these conditions for this money. Ahhhh. This was a really difficult question. To me 270 for so much work with no days off seemed pure exploitation of this girl who had no papers to work in this country. She has a passport but no work permit. Evia doesn’t have one either. They cost about 100 pounds and these women just can’t afford it. But then 270 pula was more than nothing and it was a job instead of looking for irregular piece work every day.
I asked them what the Motswana woman was like. Did they think she would be good to Rutendo (allegedly a lot of people here beat their maids)? How did she feel about no days off for church and meeting friends (they are both church goers). Eventually they left to talk about it. I really didn’t want to give advice. And for once I buttoned my lip and didn’t offer any. They came back next day to say they had decided she wasn’t going to take it and just look further. I was glad. I don’t think it is right for her to take this job. Since then she has found work three days a week with a white family, has a regular piece job with a neighbour here and another job on a Saturday- all of which adds up to around 500 pula.
They are really hard working women who just want a chance to save to help their families. They would stay in Zimbabwe if they could. They are proud of it but not what is happening there. Evia’s daughter lives in Bulawayo cos Evia is paying for her to go to school. She lives alone at 13. Gets herself up for school, shops, and cooks and cleans for herself. She lived with an uncle last year but Evia felt he wanted too much money to look after her so the girl has to manage her own money and organise herself to get to school, shop and clean at 13. I think of my own children (sorry Vicky and Sophie if you read this) who I worried about going to university flats at 18. You really do have to grow up quicker here. They are the lucky ones. So many are Aids orphans. Too many.
Anyway Evia’s daughter (Precious) won a merit in Maths recently and we gave Evia some money to buy her a present to congratulate her. Evia bought a pair of fur lined practical boots because it will soon be winter there and she wanted her to be warm. I can’t believe it ever gets cold enough to need boots. Imagine getting a merit in Maths when you don’t have your mum asking you to do your homework or get you off to school. That’s dedication and deep desire to do well. Education means so much more to people here. They want it to be a way out of poverty.
Evia can’t wait for Mugabe to die either cos she wants to live and work in her own country but like thousands of Zimbabweans who have to risk being picked up by police and sent home, she has no choice.
When I was having reflexology yesterday at the local spa. Yep there are spas. In fact there are a lot of them. The woman who was doing my feet told me she came from Zimbabwe. She was ‘coloured’ not black. She told me her husband and to children still lived in Bulawayo but she had to come to Botswana to work. She used to have a business of her own but it collapsed and she moved here. She has all the papers and goes back every fortnight to see her family. It is a three hour drive but takes her nearer 7 because of the checkpoints and border control. She told me she will have to reduce her visits to once a month because she only has 4 pages left in her passport and she is not entitled to get it renewed for another two years.
Without me even asking, she told me that she wished Mugabe was dead. She said he has ruined the country and she fearer that next year’s elections would be rigged and he would get back in. She can’t understand why the rest of the world had abandoned Zimbabwe.
I had intended keeping each of these short so I’ll stop now.
posted by George Herd at 1:49 PM
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