Miss Carlo & Denis the Menace

So what about work then? All this talk about houses and staff is all very well, but not the reason for my move to another continent. Well, I am glad to report work is fine. From the beginning I have been made to feel very welcome. The office staff consists only of 11 people and everybody is very keen to offer help and generally are very friendly. They are also quite pleased by my attempts to learn Chichewa, which is often cause for great amusement. As said before I have two bosses, Denis and Alfred, that I answer to, and I get along with them quite well, which is easy to do because they too are very friendly, each in their different way. (Actually, I have just finished writing a 7 page document with strategic recommendations and delivered it to them so we will see if come Monday I am happy to repeat this statement…!) Alfred is somewhat quiet and gentle – even after the episode at his house! He calls me Miss Carlo. In Chichewa the letters ‘R’ and ‘L’ are more or less interchangeable, and a name with two of these close together causes confusion and distraught tongue muscles. Denis is a different cattle of fish. He is big and exuberant and sometimes likes to shout at people. The other day I was sitting in my office when I heard him screaming and ranting at some-one through the telephone so loudly, the windows were rattling in their frames. When I asked him later what was the matter he explained that he had been shouting at one of the Union’s district leaders who was too scared to confront the District Education Manager about something. So Denis kindly reminded him: “THIS IS NOT A BUSINESS FOR COWARDS MY FRIEND!!!” After this I have started calling him “Denis the Menace”, which he finds hilarious, flattering even!

 

One of the most important things holding the Union back at the moment is a severe lack of money. For years and years the membership fee of the Union has been 30 Kwadcha, a very small amount of money. To compare: a minibus ride in Lilongwe costs 90 Kwadcha as does a loaf of bread, a Carlsberg beer is 75. (How odd that these should be the three prices I can recall from the top of my head…!). So 30 Kwadcha is nothing really. So, wisely, one year ago at its Annual General Meeting the Union increased its membership contribution to 1% of every member’s salary. All hell broke loose. Teachers were up in arms against the new fee, which sometimes amounted to a 500% increase. The media reported on it, angry letters were exchanged through the opinion pages of national newspapers. Apparently members were unhappy about the way they felt the Union had (not) been representing them in the past. Now if this happened in Europe, the Union would lose a bunch of members, start collecting the new fees and get on with it. Here though, there is a little snag. Union membership fees are deducted from teachers’ salaries by the government before these are paid to the teachers. Normally this is of course a very convenient arrangement, saving the Union a lot of time and money collecting the fees of 35.000 members and chasing the non-payers. But not this time. Because of all the uproar, the Minister of Education refused to start deducting the new fee, claiming that the decision to raise the contribution did not have the support of the members. First the Minister forced the Union to up-date its membership lists so he would not be deducting money from the wrong people. This was done, costing the Union time and money. Now the Minister has instructed the Union to get written approval from every single union member to deduct the new fee. Again this is going to cost the Union time and money – which they do not have. What a clever way to paralyse your ‘opponent’! To this day the issue has not been solved. So first strategic jobbie for Miss Carlo: teach Denis the Menace a few subtle negotiating skills…

 

PS: For the next 2 weeks I will be locked up in a hostel without internet access, taking part in the second half of VSO’s In Country Training. So I will talk to you again after Easter.