Hi all – I was hoping to post pictures of our yard today, but I’ve been delayed. Hopefully I’ll have some up early next week.
We have a big weekend coming up. We’ve been invited over for 2 BBQ’s/Dinner parties, which we are looking forward to immensely. We’re also going over to informally visit my friend (and neighbor) Alison, who’ve I’ve been connecting with online and via phone for months.
Chef tests are also on the docket. We’re planning to bring in 2-3 individuals to cook us a sample meal and showcase their skills in the kitchen. I am super excited to get someone in the kitchen full time, as that is not my area of expertise. We’ll be doing 3 month trials with all our employees (which is the norm) and will then sign long-term contracts, assuming it’s a good fit. Hopefully by early next week all my hiring will be done!
You are not going to believe this but we took out money for the first time this week and I was shocked to learn that their largest bill, the 1000 Malawian Kwacha is only worth $1.38. And since this is a cash economy, we are required to carry ridiculously large stacks of bills to get groceries and pay for regular expenses. To put it in US terms, imagine not having credit or debit cards and having to pay for everything with $1 bills. Nuts, right?
Malawi has been in rough financial times for awhile and their currency has been devaluing consistently since 2012 because of it. This great chart shows the rate of inflation over the last 5 years. Currently, $1 is worth 720 Malawian Kwacha. As recently as 2014, $1 was worth nearly twice that at 400 Malawian Kwacha.
I’ve heard of employers pegging their employees salary to the dollar to help their employees. My guess is we’ll probably do that too. Salaries for household help are ridiculously low to begin with (usually between $100-$125 a month for 40 hours a week). Can you imagine if you started working for someone in 2014 making the equivalent of $100 and 2 years later your salary was worth only $50? Yikes!
Sorry to end on a sad note today, but the challenges these people face are becoming very real to me now, especially as I interact with the people employed by us. Famine, Poverty, Drought, Inflation, AIDS – these are all very real issues here. Malawians remind me of Filipinos in many ways though, especially in that no matter how bad things get, they find ways to get by and do it with a smile on their face. It’s truly incredible and I doubt I’d be so resilient in the face of such immense hardship.
That’s it for tonight folks. I’ll be back soon.
