|
|
|||
|
|||
 |
|
|
 |
|
News
December 8, 2003 posting
Our staff are great. Hard working, warm, lots of laughter. Right now we can't imagine why we need three people to take care of us and the grounds, but as soon as we get going there will be more than enough for them to do. We agreed to keep them on when we bought the place because these are good jobs and they each have been here from ten to fifteen years. They are Alfred, with two wives living near Ndawana where we will be working, general handyman; Victoria, who lives here with her three children and comes also from near Ndawana, housekeeper; and Theresa who lives here with a grandchild and helps Alfred with the gardening/grounds upkeep. This is their home except for some weekends when they go to their village/town.
They now have only a single light socket in each of their houses, so we are getting electrical plugs put in for heating and a small appliance each. We are also getting their shower upgraded, from a kerosene heated thing which takes forever to heat and produces little hot water, to a proper hot water tank. Now they cook with their wood fireplace, which also is their only source of heat in the winter. That means cooking in the heat of summer makes the houses very hot. Jim is teaching Alfred to drive and Chris and her mother will teach the women to cook and sew. We are starting with our staff to embrace the principle that we want to teach skills that will leave people better off than they were before Edzimkulu.
We are also hiring Victoria 's two oldest children during their summer break, and their work will be banked to pay for their transportation to junior high school, which they are both beginning when school resumes. Victoria earns 600 rand ($120) a month, plus food and housing. Out of her pay, she will have to pay school fees of 250 rand a year and 150 rand a month for transportation, since the school is a long way from home and they have to take a taxi. The work they do here will take the transportation burden off of her, give us a chance to get to know the children, give them some work skills, and demonstrate the principle of exchange instead of handout.
|
|