A troop of young boys have spent some of their Easter holidays filling in the pot holes on the road outside our house with rubble & sand. Not the best job ever done but better than nothing. Now they're asking for money for it – I say pay them, this is a good thing. They've provided a service, its enterprising & I don't see any evidence of them having created the holes in the first place. Others (A and our Malawian friends) are saying don't pay – it's not the system, the town authority should be doing it, the rubble / sand solution won't last & children should learn that 'Muzungus' (white folk) don't = money.
Hummm.....if they are there today I think I'll try to talk to them.
F x
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It's a tough one. On the one hand, if you do pay, you are setting a precedent, and when I went to Malawi I was always told not to encourage that belief that azungu are full of money. (As a volunteer, I certainly wasn't - thinking of $1000 per month for a house makes my eyes water!) On the other hand, my boss always had some spare tambala (in the days when they could be used to purchase things!) in that car to give to the begging children in the Kandodo car park (must be showing my age ...!), since, in his eyes, that was (unfortunately, through chance of birth) their job, so they should get paid for it.
ReplyDeleteAs with all things, though, I would tend to side with the Malawian advice ... good luck with your decision making!