Paying The Help - Minimum wage for domestic workers in Zambia

Recently, the main conversation topic in Zambia has been the plight of thousands of middle class educated elite who feel they can no longer afford to exploit the labour of other less privileged and less educated Zambians in their homes, kitchens, nurseries and gardens.

As some background, the government of Zambia recently announced a major increase in minimum wages for domestic workers, general workers, shop workers, security guards etc. The move was widely praised by some (and covered positively in the state controlled media), while understandably opposed by Zambia Federation of Employers and others. You can read the Zambia Daily Mail's take here. Following the public's response, Vice President Dr Guy Scott insisted in Parliament that there would be no job losses. A promise that is impossible to keep. Read what the Times of Zambia had to say about it here. 

I am currently away from Zambia and when I saw the constant stream of Facebook and BBM status updates about domestic workers' pay, I was concerned that the new minimum wage for domestic workers would be somewhere in the region of K800,000 to K1,000,000 ($160 to $200) or more. I was baffled by the outrage, when I learned that the increment for domestic workers was from K250,000 ($50) to only K500,000 ($100). I am disappointed in Zambians. Do we think that 500 pin is too much to pay someone who works six days a week? Who cooks and cleans up after you? Who raises your children on your behalf? Really? One Hundred Dollars is too much to do work that you can't or won't do?

There are a number of sub-issues in this debate that I am not going to address in any depth here. I will only list some of them to illustrate that I am aware of them:

1. There is a finite amount of money in circulation, so if people have to be paid more, either prices go up or some people get laid off. Definitely both will occur
2. The reduced job market will mean that people will become more desperate and therefore more vulnerable to seek other means of livelihood. This could be engaging in criminal activity or lead some into further exploitative, slave-like conditions in certain work places or activities
3. People who are already doing too much will be burdened with even more work because employers can't afford to engage more staff or because the stingy boss will use this as a convenient excuse to NOT pay people due compensation for their labour

I have only listed three things (there are of course more). None are why I have an issue with my fellow Zambians on this subject: 

• People don't want to share
• People have double standards
• People have little respect for justice, for fairness and for human dignity
• But mainly, people are just plain selfish!

I think my current maid is great. I have been fortunate. I had to go through 10 other maids before I found her. My first maid was great too. Josephine was 17 or 18 (perhaps older or younger). She worked at my friend's house during the week and at my place on Saturdays. I lived in an SQ (servant's quarters) and paid her K10,000 per day ($2). When we had a vacancy for a cleaner at my office, I approached my friend who graciously agreed to let her go to a better paying, less intense job in an office. However, she continued to work for me on Saturday's until she got married and moved to another town. 

Sadly, I can't remember the next few maids, whether their names or anything about them, other than that they came two to three times a month. I know that at times, I managed without a maid for a few months. This should have been 2005 into 2006 and then up to 2008. During this period, I moved from Lusaka to the Eastern province of Zambia. Again, I had someone to come in on Saturday's to wash clothes and do a bit of dusting. I did my own ironing and general cleaning. I lived alone and was rarely home, so once a week was enough. In 2008, I moved back to Lusaka into a much bigger house, had way more stuff and was earning enough money to get someone to come in 3 times a week. She worked for my sister the other days of the week. She was a great house keeper, but she had a horrible attitude. I think her previous employers were really fancy because she refused (yes, she refused), to clean the floors without tile cleaner. Simple washing paste wasn't good enough. I also had to buy shower spray and other cleaning products, which basically do the same thing as detergent paste. My sister had a young child and so did she, so she helped herself to my nephew's clothes. She also ate me out of house and home. Not eating to be satisfied, but carrying some home. If there was no bread, she fried herself chips that she ate with mayonnaise. When you are stealing, you usually don't realise when you are stealing alone. And because I lived alone for some of the time she was there, it was easy for me to tell what she was taking home with her. I'm not for being chummy chummy with my maids -- but this one wouldn't even say good morning on some days. She had to go. 

Next was probably my favourite. Matilda was in her late teens and had a bubbly personality which melted my heart. She was great with laundry and got along with everyone in my household. But, like most young people, she had aspirations and just didn't want to be a maid. Unlike many others, she had the courtesy to tell me and brought a friend to take over. The friend didn't last. She wanted to earn the money, but not have to work for it. She didn't turn up one day. Then, I turned to a friend's trusted maid of 5 or 6 years to recommend someone. She sent me an older lady who unfortunately suffered from ill-health. She was always off work and when she came had no energy to work. She sent her younger sister (or daughter, I can't recall) to take over. Tina reminded me so much of Matilda. But, she didn't last long either. She managed to find a college place and move on to a better occupation. Her sister took over. In contrast, she was surly and resented the fact that circumstances forced her to work as a maid in order to make a living. She showed that resentment in her work until one day she got paid and didn't return the next day. Then, I asked my next door neighbour's very helpful and long serving gardener to find me someone. She probably stayed the longest -- about two years. But that time was fraught with sit-down sessions to discuss time-keeping, the work itself, attitude etc. Finally, I had enough and let her go. 

I then turned to a maid centre. They gave me a few ladies to interview. I settled on the incumbent. Her previous employers had moved to another town and the maid centre manager recommended her because she was hardworking and diligent. She has been earning the new minimum wage (K500,000) from day one, because the maid centre told me that was what was considered fair pay.

My purpose in telling my maid story was to show that I know what good maids and bad maids are. But, the basic conditions are not supposed to be dependent on whether you like someone or whether they work well or not. For example, even evil maid was entitled to leave, time off for funerals and to attend sick children. And, although it's a perk and not an entitlement, I gave her a half-bonus (on account of her evilness) because she had kids and they deserved a little extra for Christmas, regardless of their evil Mum. Since she stole for them, I'm assuming she shared with them too.

I work hard for my money and I expect my maid to do the same. I take a mother's day once in a while (three or four times a year) to visit the doctor or sit at home and do nothing if that's what I want. My maid has that right too. I expect leave, and I give my maid leave. In my ten year working life I have been known to call in sick with a minor headache once or twice. Should I be outraged if once in a while my maid does the same?

It disappoints me that many of those complaining about paying the people who clean up after them and raise their kids, USD100, think nothing of putting in fake Brazilian hair weave for USD400 a pop. If the law pegs minimum wage for domestic workers beyond your salary then guess what? The cost of living has gone up and you need to adjust your budget accordingly. We must pay people fair wages and accept that times have changed. The same people who complain that the government is not doing enough to develop the economy, are whining about the new minimum wage because it is inconceivable to them that the benefits of economic growth should trickle down to others. They argue that Zambia is a poor country and therefore people are supposed to be paid peanuts and should be grateful for it too.

Our people have a sense of entitlement that is shocking. Not just maids, but their bosses in offices who want to earn a living but not work hard for it and yet expect their workers to do more than they are willing to do. Poor work ethic in Zambia is a national problem that applies to employees at every level from Chilenje to state house and I refuse to attribute it to maids only. We are all poor workers. Each and every one of those people expects to get a fair wage and maids are no different. So the argument that some maids are lazy and therefore they should be paid peanuts does not hold water in my view. The fact is, this is the 21st century and as has happened in other more developed countries, the passage of time and growth of the economy means that affording domestic help will slowly become a luxury that only a few can afford. That's the way it is SUPPOSED to be.
 

Source

Earlier this year in the Lusaka Book Club, we read The Help (also an Oscar winning movie). It is about racial discrimination in the American deep south. The book is set just before the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King etc really took off and focuses on the relationships between white southern women and the black maids who they trusted to raise their children, clean their homes and cook their food, but whom they refused to share toilets with. What struck everyone in the discussion was that there was almost NO DIFFERENCE between the white women's racist and hypocritical treatment of their black maids and the way WE, the middle class educated black elite treat our illiterate or semi-literate workers. When it is about looking down on someone because of the colour of their skin, it is wrong. But when it is about class and social-economic status, we just say that is how it is. These are the exact same excuses used to justify slavery hundreds of years ago, apartheid in South Africa and racial segregation laws in the United States. It was a sobering thought for us all.

Soon after that, I came across a guest post on another blog that I follow, which focuses primarily on natural African hair in Nigeria. The guest blogger was a PhD candidate researching domestic workers in Nigeria. It's quite a long article, with some great comments and I encourage you to take time to read it and see that this 'problem' is not confined to Zambia alone:

Domestic Workers in Nigeria

"Unfortunately, the people that see my research as a way forward in Nigeria are very few and far between. Majority feel I am wasting my time speaking to the ‘house-helps’. I cannot count the number of times I have been told that domestic workers themselves were the problem and if I had to do the research I should be speaking to employers so I could hear the stories of the ‘nanny who gave her Madam’s children AIDS’, the ‘housegirl who bewitched her Oga and kicked the Madam out of the house’, and ‘the wicked nanny who kidnapped her Madam’s baby’."

I wrote a comment similar to what I said above about the parallels between The Help and our own relationships with domestic workers in Zambia. A reply from the researcher, Zahrah echoed my thoughts. She wrote:

"I constantly have this discussion that the issue of race and domestic work found in the USA in the ’50s between white employers and black workers is very similar to the issue in most African countries. The only difference is that race is substituted with class and in some cases ethnicity. In domestic work (as in slavery, apartheid and all that you mentioned), difference is usually used to emphasise superiority and inferiority – be it difference in terms of race, class, economic status and even gender."

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Appreciating Indigenous Knowledge

Soon after I started this blog, I also established a sister blog to document my journey into caring for and styling natural hair. ZedHair (titled It's Natural), takes about ten times as much time and effort as this personal blog, so that is my explanation for not blogging as frequently as I would like.

Below is a post that originally appeared on ZedHair in March of this year, that I think has value beyond those who are part of the online natural African hair community.

My reason for sharing it is because the more I learn about health and wellness, the more I am coming back to positive traditional practices (some of our cultural rituals and beliefs are harmful and retrogressive). The sad thing is that I am learning them from foreign sources across oceans and continents.

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The Value of Indigenous Hair-care and Knowledge

Yesterday was a whirlwind day. What began as a by the way conversation with someone at the office turned into something with infinitely more possibilities.

As a gender activist, I apologise for the bare boobs, I generally oppose publishing such shots as I think it is unnecessary. However, it is the only one in my collection (as in, pictures that I took myself, with my own camera), that depicts the red clay that initiates traditionally wear in their hair while in seclusion. Unfortunately, this picture was taken at the annual Likumbi Lya Mize traditional ceremony and so the amount of clay in the hair was more for show than genuinely authentic. Normally, there would be so much clay that you wouldn't even be able to see the hair. It would just be red clay caked on the head.

A mwali (female initiate) of the Luvale people in Northwestern Zambia. That's ma peeps right there y'all

So, what is it about the clay?

I have recently started using a bentonite clay face mask which I had to purchase from the health food store. So far it isn't working. But, I digress.

I was having a chat with a lady in our building who has been concerned about traction alopecia. She cut her hair down to a TWA, but still suffers from the long-term effects of common styling methods. I mentioned that I had read on the internet about people rubbing/massaging Jamaican black castor oil into their hairless patches, usually on the temples. She remarked, "Castor oil? You mean like the one our grandmothers used and that they still use in the village?" My ears perked up and I urgently leaned forward in my chair. "What do you mean by "like the one our grandmothers used?". She went on to explain how it grows in the back yard and that you can plant some today and it will sprout in no time. Back in the village, they dry roast the seed/nut and then pound and press it to force out the oil. A similar process to that used in making sunflower oil. You boil it with water until the oil rests on top. Next, you take a chicken feather and glide it across to collect the oil (oil and water don't mix, if you remember). Then you take your fingers and slide them over the feather and into a dish/cup/bowl to collect the oil. Repeat until only water remains. The oil keeps a long time (doesn't go rancid), and a small bottle lasts for ages as you only need a little to moisturise your hair.

I asked her about other traditional hair-care remedies and she mentioned the clay that is put in the hair of initiates while they are in seclusion. When they came out, she said, once washed, their hair was always so soft and had really grown. After initiation, it was common for women and girls to continue to treat (deep condition) their hair in this way.

I have read on mainly American blogs, about experiences of black Americans who have traveled to Africa, thinking that they were coming to the home of healthy hair-care practices, with natural, unprocessed and pure ingredients; only to be disappointed that in most parts of Africa (except Ethiopia), we generally treat our hair very badly, do not take care of it at all, and wouldn't know the first thing about indigenous products and techniques. Sadly, this doesn't only apply to hair-care, but to many other areas as well, where we are only now beginning to embrace our own heritage and acknowledge the value of the traditional ways of doing things. Think of how traditional medicine and foods have made a comeback as part of the response to HIV an AIDS. However, this was only after it was legitimised by some western educated professor and rubber stamped by USAID and other such organisations. We still have a long way to go.

I remain super excited about that conversation as it opened up the possibility of so much information and knowledge out there waiting to be shared. I will be investigating more about this issue and taking time to speak to my mother and grandmother to learn more. I am also waiting for my consignment of home made castor oil and clay to come in from the village. I cannot wait to try them out.

NB: The above post first appeared on ZedHair.com on 14th March, 2012

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A Loud and Clear Review of the Year 2011

I will approach my personal 2011 news re-cap from two fronts:

1. The ones that I genuinely remember off the top of my head, and
2. The ones that I recall after some online research, checking through which news links I posted on Facebook, articles I commented on etc.

Charlie Brooker (a columnist at The Guardian UK), described 2011 as being like an end-of-season finale. I have to agree with Charlie on this one. This year was a rollercoaster of nail-biting, action-packed, edge of your seat news stories. In the end, I felt lazy to research a real blow by blow account of the months. I will kick myself later, when I remember some important stuff that I would have loved to document for posterity's sake. Anyhoo, here is my take on 2011.

The Jasmine Revolution

Arab Spring (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya etc) -- The Time magazine Person of the Year was The Protester and I so agreed with this. Tunisia in January captured all our hearts because here was a country where you don't normally hear much of anything other than football. Together with Egypt, Tunisia boasts the top two African Football clubs in terms of silverware. What followed in Egypt was equally fascinating. Libya was not so great, but it meant something. The struggle continues for our comrades in Yemen and Syria. 

In Southern Africa, our thoughts turned to Zimbabwe and whether or not this would inspire similar movements in our neighbouring country. I was and remain skeptical. In Zimbabwe, I think there are too many people who benefit from the status quo to really change things. I think they must get a lot worse in order to get better. 

However, what happened to our other neighbours in Malawi shocked us all. Generally, Zambians are considered peaceful, laid back people. If this is what we are (very accurate description, more inclined to passivity though), then I really don't know how we would describe Malawians? That our brethren across the border should resort to rioting and marching on the streets was a wake-up call that things were mighty bad. I certainly had no idea that things had gotten so bad as to make our comrades demonstrate. We just don't do that sort of thing here, without extreme provocation. The scenes we witnessed in July were testament to me that things had been brewing for a while and our comrades just couldn't take it anymore.

That Kiss...

The Royal Wedding -- I attended a viewing party. I was all set for a week of wedding news, when two days later, it was upstaged by one of THE biggest stories of the year, being the killing of Osama Bin Laden by some Jack Bauer wannabe Navy Seals. The movies can NEVER live up to the drama of real life.

I took this picture from my car window, the morning after the results of the election were announced

Zambia Election -- September 20th, 2011 was a day when Zambia once again showed the world that in some areas, we stand apart from most other African nations. It is not often that a sitting president is defeated, considering he has all the powers of the state, including military, financial and propaganda at his disposal. Equally, it is not often that a defeated president accepts that defeat and steps aside without force. I think it is sad that people have failed credit RB with not doing what so many others could or would have done. 

Last September, we witnessed what determination can achieve. Michael Sata has been in the opposition for a good ten years. There was no other voice speaking up for the people and giving an alternative to the state rhetoric. He was the most effective opposition leader we have had and for that I will miss him. 

Champ19ns

Manchester United -- Need I say more? I don't think so.

Japan -- The scenes of aerial photography showing the large scale destruction from Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan are forever etched in my memory.

Number ONE at last!

Novak Djokovic attains the No. 1 stop in men's tennis. I was so happy for him to finally get what he has worked so hard to achieve. He won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

Onwards and Upwards to 2012
What major events am I looking forward to in 2012? Again, these are those that I just know are the things I am genuinely looking forward to in this coming year. There are a whole load of other things, but that will require some kind of research, reading up etc and I'm so tired (or lazy), perhaps both.

The Avengers -- This movie comes out in May 2012. I'm not sure I know why I am so stoked for this film, but I am really looking forward to it.

2012 US Election -- after the drama of 2008, I really do hope that Barack makes it to another term. The US elections always reminds me of how alike the world is and how politics is a dirty game EVERYWHERE you go and that issue-based campaigning and elections may not exist anywhere actually. 

Also, bi-partisanship is a myth, a fantasy. I wonder if Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity can be revived. I am confident that we will need to see a revival Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear slogans such as "I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure you're not Hitler".

London 2012

London 2012 Olympic Games -- I would have loved to have been there, but sadly did not make it. I made it for a world cup, the Olympics is next. Perhaps Rio 2016 will be mine.

My country tis of thee...

Life in the Pabwato Kingdom -- as a Zambian, the biggest story of last year was the election that was a peaceful revolution, resulting in a new government. I and my countrymen and women look forward to the next five years in hopes that our lives will be better. By that I mean less corrupt, more equitable distribution of development, freedom of expression and accountable leadership.

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A Timeline Safari

Recently, I decided to migrate my Facebook profile to the new timeline, a few weeks ahead of the mandatory launch. If you are yet to read up on it, read this this article from CNET. After signing up to get the timeline early, I was able to browse through my profile, from the time I joined Facebook several years ago to today. What I found was interesting.


I was reminded of things long forgotten, but it also became evident to me that there were certain things that stood out that said a lot about me. None of it was a surprise, but looking at it chronologically showed me the patterns, cycles etc in my life. I noted a few of them down.


1. I use the word conundrum a lot


2. I love Zambia in September and Jacaranda blossoms (Purple Rain)


3. I tend to post lyrics from my favourite hymns, and while I know that I have favourites, I have never posted any lines from my top 5. However, there is one hymn that I would not list as even being in my top ten of favourite hymns. But, in the last three years, I have quoted the following lines three times:

I'm pressing on the upward way,

New heights I'm gaining ev'ry day;
Still praying as I onward bound,
"Lord plant my feet on higher ground."


4. One of my favourite worship songs is Offering by Third Day. The first line, that I have quoted twice is "Magnificent Holy Father, I stand in awe of all I see".


5. I have contributed to the misuse and abuse of the word Awesome! I plan to change this in 2012, as it is a tragedy the way we trivialise a word of such deep significance and meaning. How many things in this world GENUINELY fill us with awe? Very few.


6. Bandwidth, download capacity, internet speed etc is a very BIG part of my life


7. I share and comment on the film industry quite a lot


8. I often quote lines from The Big Bang Theory, especially those by Sheldon.

Source

9. I get my news from The Guardian (UK) and The BBC News website. Other information comes from CNET (technology) and The Economist


10. I frequently suffer from food poisoning, and feel the need to mention it each time. Ewww

11. Often, I preface my updates with the words Ndipo (a Nyanja word) and Yikes (an English colloquialism). While they don't mean exactly the same thing, they are fairly similar expressions

12. I have many many completely random thoughts

13. My life (as seen through status updates) is a weird concoction of the incredibly mundane and the terribly exciting. Examples: braiding my hair vs safari adventure in South Luangwa National Park

14. It appears that I attend many weddings

15. My support helped Novak Djokovic to a great tennis year in 2011. I was really behind him from January to December.

16. I am quite fond of talking about how the little things in life are important and carry us through the rough times.

My Post Election Analysis -- two months later

Of all the Development Discussion Group (DDG) meetings this year, there was one that I was loathe to miss and it was the post-election meeting. As it happens, I did miss it and I was bitterly disappointed at being out of the country at the time. That said, I did manage to jot down my brief post-election thoughts on my BlackBerry and email them to the group. That was one week after the September 20th elections, on the 29th. This is what I wrote then:


1. One Zambia. One Nation! 


If I was there I would have insisted on a "Viva Zambia..." I expect someone to do it for me. Seriously? Yes, seriously. I have never felt prouder to be Zambian than I am now. 


2. This was the people's victory. They spoke and the system, plus our leaders had no choice but to listen. 


3. We got change, but the truth is our people wanted to give someone else the chance to eat. We are far from knowing what a different Zambia should look like. Nevertheless, we are well on our way because it had been 20 years since we last saw what the people could collectively do. Zambia and Zambians then and now are different. Though we inch forward slowly, some gains cannot be reversed.


4. We have many examples of what happens when leaders illegitimately hold on to power and how common this is in Africa. RB could have used state machinery to stay but he instead chose to graciously step aside. This is of HUGE significance to him as a person, to our way of doing things in Zambia (let us not forget that KK did it too, as did Chiluba when his 3rd term bid was rejected) and it sets our young democracy apart on this continent.


5. The true state of our young and weak democracy is seen in the defections that we are seeing en mass. Also, we may be sore losers, but we can be even worse winners.


6. Zambia has the opportunity to have our first real multi-party state and Parliament. A genuine opposition that stands for something. I hope the current opposition parties learn from Michael Sata's example. For ten long years, he was the ONLY credible and consistent opposition voice from election to election and not just in the run-up to campaigns.


7. I have some doubts about the future because I know my own people and how we worship whoever is in power and also how power changes people --even those with the best of intentions.


8. However, I remain optimistic that the future belongs to the younger generation of politicians. The performance of Elias Chipimo speaks volumes.  


9. PF ran one of the best political campaigns and showed how the rural vote still wins our elections. They have been campaigning since 2008. By building their gains there, they added to the urban vote to make the total tally insurmountable. Plus, as I have said in other fora, Don't Kubeba must go down in history as political marketing genius. One could write a PHD thesis on this. Nuff respect.


10. A recent DDG discussion on Zambia's democratic journey highlighted the weakness of our institutions. This was never more evident than in this election. The riots were because of people's lack of confidence in our institutions. They know they are vulnerable and that our officials are weak. That we still depend on the strength of individual integrity to fold or not to fold is risky and dangerous. The institution MUST be stronger than the people who run it. Otherwise we are back to depending on a benevolent dictator or in this case, a benevolent bureaucrat.


That was basically what I thought TWO MONTHS ago. This is what I think now:


1. Zambians are Political Prostitutes:
I laughed when I read the headline about Chongwe residents booing RB, just weeks after voting for an MMD MP. It is not just our politicians and chiefs who are political prostitutes, we the people are just as bad. Can we actually be trusted? I don't think so. We are opportunists and will side with whichever way the wind is blowing.


I have been encouraged by the PF party faithful who have spoken out against some of the defections from other parties to the ruling party. Why? Because they know how long the PF was in the political wilderness and are entitled to look down with righteousness indignation at those who now want to ride on the coattails of the success others spent ten years fighting for.


2. Public Media
As a communication specialist, I have been heartened by efforts of our new Minister of Information, Broadcasting and Tourism to try to change the way our media does things. I say try, because some work cultures are so deeply entrenched it will take a very long time before our public media really understand what public interest broadcasting or communication really is. They simply do not know how to do it any other way. On the other hand, this is Africa. I imagine our journalists would rather err on the side of caution and continue with state propaganda as they have always done. After all, they know on which side their bread is buttered. Still, especially in the weeks after the election, it was refreshing to see, especially our national broadcaster, attempting balanced reporting.


3. A Man of Action
Our President remains a man of action. Recalling his maiden speech to parliament on 14th October, which was notable for some bold moves, the highlights for me were:

• Proposed security of tenure on customary land. I would LOVE to be in that consultation meeting as this is such a difficult issue; 
• A new constitution in 90 days, drawn up by a small technical committee. They should not fail the people, please. All we want is a constitution that will stand the test of time; that is not drawn up to eliminate certain people, but that is for generations to come; 
• Decentralisation at last, with what looks like a decent intergovernmental fiscal relations policy. The budget did point to somewhat of a phased administrative decentralisation; 
• Further chuffing of chiefs. It distresses me how little regard we have for our traditional leaders and it is about time the government gave them due attention and respect; 
• A proper road network from district to district. This would really change things up for so many people. You can have decent public transport to everywhere. Telecommunications, electricity, water commerce and other developments will follow the roads. Could this lead to making it much easier for qualified staff to agree to be posted to rural areas once they know they will not be cut off for months at a time? I sure hope so; 
• Splitting Northern Province in two. The province is huge and poverty is high. Perhaps this will lead to better use of resources to ensure they actually reach the people; 
• Moving Southern Province HQ back to Choma. Hopefully, this will lead to a continued focus on tourism as a growth sector; 
• Transforming Zambia National Service camps into youth training centres. As a youth worker by passion and practice, this was great news to me. Our youth are tired. They are not skilled or educated, they are unemployed and there are so many of them. We really needed this and I really hope that it works out well.

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Butterflies On My Mind

Today, the 25th of November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. As a development worker, I have commemorated this day for almost fifteen years as it is the first day in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, which culminates in Human Rights Day on 10th December. You can follows the 16 Days of Activism Facebook page here.

What I did not know until July this year is that the 25th of November marks the day the Mirabal sisters were savagely murdered for their part in trying to overthrow a brutal dictator and liberate their husbands, their people and their country.


Who were the Mirabal sisters?

The Mirabal Sisters - source

The Mirabals were four Dominican political dissidents who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Three of the sisters were assassinated by persons unknown on November 25th, 1960. The Mirabal women grew up in an upper class, well-cultured environment. Their father was a successful businessman. All became married family women. Minerva became particularly passionate about ending the dictatorship of Trujillo after talking extensively with an uncle of hers. Influenced by her uncle, Minerva became more involved in the anti-Trujillo movement. She studied law and became a lawyer, but because she declined Trujillo's romantic advances, he ordered that while she would be issued a degree she was not to receive her practitioner's license. 

Her sisters followed suit, and they eventually formed a group of opponents to the Trujillo regime, known as the Movement of the Fourteenth of June. Within that group, they were known as "The Butterflies" (Las Mariposas in Spanish) because that was the underground name that Minerva was given. Two of the sisters, María Argentina Minerva Mirabal and Antonia María Teresa Mirabal, were incarcerated and tortured on several occasions. Three of the sisters' husbands were incarcerated at La Victoria Penitentiary in Santo Domingo [from Wikipedia]. 

The Mirabals died in a ruse where their husbands were deliberately moved from Santo Domingo to a prison on the outskirts of Puerto Plata, so that when their wives went to visit them, the sisters were lured into a trap, specifically so they could be brutally murdered without witnesses. The sisters, with their driver (Rufino de la Cruz), were strangled and clubbed to death. To hide the murder, the bodies were placed in the jeep they had travelled in and rolled off a cliff.

The Dominican public did not believe the government's story of the "accident". Historians consider their murder a turning point in the downfall of Trujillo's dictatorship. Following the Mirabal murder, support for the dictator waned as the resistance gained momentum. The Catholic Church became openly critical of the regime. On May 30, 1961, six months after the Mirabal's death, Trujillo was ambushed and assassinated [Source, Source].

The Mirabals on the 200 note Dominican peso - source

While 25th November had been commemorated by women's activists in the Americas since 1981, on 19 October 1999, at the 54th session of the General Assembly, the representative of the Dominican Republic on behalf of itself and 74 Member States introduced a draft resolution calling for the designation of 25th November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The purpose of commemorating this day (the anniversary of the Mirabal sisters' death), was to invite the world to raise public awareness of the problem of violence against women. The draft resolution expressed alarm that endemic violence against women was impeding women’s opportunities to achieve legal, social, political and economic equality in society. The Assembly reiterated that the term "violence against women" would refer to acts capable of causing physical, sexual or psychological harm, whether in public or private life [UN].

A commemorative stamp from 1985 - source

So, by now you may be wondering how on earth I ever even came to learn about these amazing women. 

Earlier this year (2011), in The Lusaka Book Club, we read a book entitled, 'In The Time Of The Butterflies' by Julia Alvarez. I had never heard of the author, but I had come across some of the issues covered in the book while reading another book club title in 2010 called 'The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao' by Junot Diaz. Both of these books concern the Dominican Republic and the tyrannical reign of dictator Rafael Trujillo. As someone who prides herself on being pretty well informed, I was rather disturbed to find that prior to reading Oscar Wao, I had never even heard of Trujillo and the many evil and wicked things that he did. I never gave much thought to the Dominican Republic, aside from that it shared the island of Dominica with Haiti, it's much poorer and oft-maligned neighbour.

In this excerpt from a New York Times review of Oscar Wao, the protagonist, a lovable, overweight, self-confessed Tolkien geek and second generation Dominican-American living in New Jersey describes life under Trujillo in his home country from 1930 to 1961 as follows:

“Homeboy dominated Santo Domingo like it was his very own private Mordor; not only did he lock the country away from the rest of the world, isolate it behind the Plátano Curtain, he acted like it was his very own plantation, acted like he owned everything and everyone, killed whomever he wanted to kill, sons, brothers, fathers, mothers, took women away from their husbands on their wedding nights and then would brag publicly about ‘the great honeymoon’ he’d had the night before. His Eye was everywhere; he had a Secret Police that out-Stasi’d the Stasi, that kept watch on everyone, even those everyones who lived in the States.”

His 30 years in power, to Dominicans known as the Trujillo Era (Spanish: La Era de Trujillo), is considered one of the bloodiest ever in the Americas, as well as a time of a classic personality cult, when monuments to Trujillo were in abundance. It has been estimated that Trujillo's rule was responsible for the death of more than 50,000 people, including 20,000 to 30,000 in the infamous Parsley Massacre. The brutal murder on November 25, 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, Patria, María Teresa and Minerva, who opposed Trujillo's dictatorship, further increased discontent against his repressive rule. [from Wikipedia].

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez's book that inspired my decision to learn more about the Mirabals is part fact, part fiction. In order to tell their story, she has had to fictionalise many scenes. Amazon.com's review states that: 

"Alvarez breathes life into these historical figures--as she imagines their teenage years, their gradual involvement with the revolution, and their terror as their dissentience is uncovered.Alvarez's controlled writing perfectly captures the mounting tension as "the butterflies" near their horrific end. The novel begins with the recollections of Dede, the fourth and surviving sister, who fears abandoning her routines and her husband to join the movement. Alvarez also offers the perspectives of the other sisters: brave and outspoken Minerva, the family's political ringleader; pious Patria, who forsakes her faith to join her sisters after witnessing the atrocities of the tyranny; and the baby sister, sensitive Maria Teresa, who, in a series of diaries, chronicles her allegiance to Minerva and the physical and spiritual anguish of prison life".

In the Time of the Butterflies is inspiring, heartbreaking and educative. It is definitely the highlight of my book club year and well worth reading.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is probably one of the most original books I have read in years. It is witty, funny, entertaining and educative. I highly recommend it. Did I mention it won the 2008 Pulitzer prize for fiction?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

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There is only ONE Masuka!

For a few years now, "There is only ONE Masuka!" has been my personal slogan. A number of people have asked me what this means. So, I thought I would share that this is for three main reasons.

1. For most people that I personally know, I am the ONLY Masuka that they know. A few years ago, when I last did a Google search for my first name, most of the references to Masuka came from Japan and other Asian countries. In Africa, there is a well-known hotel in Tanzania by the same name. In Southern Africa, the late singer Dorothy Masuka is the most recognisable example. Masuka is a common last name in Zimbabwe and coincidentally, my own last name is also pretty common there.

And then, Google has me -- Masuka M.

Contrary to popular belief, my name has no relation to the word common in eastern province languages which means to be set free. Hence, our national anthem in Chichewa translates the line 'Freely we stand' as 'bomasuka'. Officially, my family identifies our tribe as Luvale, which is after my Father's family. My mother is Luchazi, a much smaller, but related sister tribe. However, both of my names are actually Chokwe. My paternal grandmother, after whom I am named, was Chokwe too.

In Chokwe, Masuka has two meanings. The first is given primarily to girls. There is a proverb associated with the name, but loosely, the name means one who comforts children.The secondary meaning, primarily applied to boys is one who is skilled at preparing a calabash for use.

I do not personally know any other Masukas. The ones that I do know of are Zimbabwean (and Masuka is their last name). There are definitely more, but I have personally been told of three other Masukas known to my general circle of friends, family, colleagues etc. Two are male and one is female, but we are not personally acquainted.

2. St Augustine is quoted has having said, "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us".  As a result, I try to look at myself the way God does. I really am fearfully and wonderfully made and for that reason, there is only one of me.

3. Uniqueness is Overrated and I think that those people who are overly concerned and preoccupied with proving how different they are from everyone else are misguided and insecure because they are actually NOT that different from a couple of hundred other people in the world. More, if you count those that have passed away or are yet to be born.

There are now 7 billion people on this earth, with more being born every day. That means that there are many many many people who look like me, who act like me, who talk like me, who walk like me and who even think like me. But that doesn't make me feel any less like Masuka. I do not value myself any less and that does not in any way diminish who I am or my place or purpose in this world.

I LOVE being me. There is only ONE Masuka!

Since writing this in 2011, in 2012 I met one of the Masukas. She works in banking. A friend delighted in sending a message that I should ask for Masuka. I hurriedly corrected her mistake and she smugly insisted it wasn't. Later I found out why.

The same year I travelled to Kaoma in a village deep in a Chokwe area and met four Masukas of varying ages from Grandmother to great grand daughter.

The same year I got an email from a man originally from Congo DRC, living in Kenya who is also named Masuka and happens to have Chokwe roots too. He had always wondered what his name meant until he read this post.

In 2014, I encountered the male Masuka by email and met another Masuka who was the one I am most often confused with, because we both worked in the health and HIV sector at one time.

And so ends my Masuka adventures so far. There is only ONE Masuka!

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