Mary in Malawi

Seven days is what is left of our 10 months long stay in Malawi. And I will be honest - I am realy happy to go home now!! =D But I will miss the people here so much.. I think the person I will miss the most is Olivia. Our housemaid. She is such a wonderful person, and she has so many problems in her life, but she never complains. You will never hear this woman complain. No matter what. If the things that have happend to her would happen to me, I don't think I would ever be able to be happy again. But se smiles, everyday. And she says "Aaa Pa libe mabvuto!" (=No problem!). Thats her motto, her... life's philosophy. No problem. Whatever comes, it goes.

But I know that she is very sad that we leave now. She do not know what to do, it is very difficult to find a job for a housemaid here. Especially one that has an OK sallary. So I decided to gove her some money, so that she can manage some months after we leave. And also, I will try to help her a bit from home as well, sending some money through western union bank. I have always been thinking of sending money to some kind of charity, but instead of doing that, i will send money to Olivia and her two little daughters.

Yesterday I gave her a farwell gift, 40.000 kwatcha, which is about 1700 SEK/ 200 US$. My mother helped me with the money, so Olivias thanks is most of all for her =). 

When Olivia got the money, she just sat down on the floor. And stayed there for half an hour. She was in shock! I sat down with her, and we talked about a lot of other things, but not about the money. She was unable to talk about it. Then, she stood up, did some work, and then she started laughing. the most beautiful laughter! =) She laughed so much she almost started crying, and repeated the sum of money she just had recieved. She couldn't believe it was true! Then she hugged me over and over again and she said "I am very happy!".

40.000 kwatcha for me would be a pair of jeans and a nice dinner. For her, it is almost a whole years sallary. It is food for her and her children for a year... You can imagine! It was amazing to witness how happy she was, and I felt that giving something to someone, is really the best feeling in the world. The most tuching thing was a thing she said.. she got a distant look on her face, like if she was dreaming, and then she looked at me, and her face burst into a giant smile, and she said "I can buy a chair!".

Thank you mama!! =))))
Olivia with Grace,  years, and Faines, 4 months. =)