Whistle While You Work

Here's a blog I wrote for the Hope Village blog while Tracy was away. Wanted to share it with you, as it tells of Annie and Chloe's job, working with the animals on the Hope Village "farm".

Whistle while you work

Posted by hopevillage

Last month we noticed that Chloe and Annie were running out of airtime more often than usual on their cell phones. (In Malawi, we buy “units” of time for our phones. Usually, 1,500 units (a little over $5 or £3.5) will get the girls through a month.

A brief investigation uncovered the fact that they were texting each other throughout the day, even though their front doors are close enough to throw a rock at (with a good arm).

Annie and Chloe - it seems that enjoying time together requires a lot of phone messaging.

The solution? At 13 and 14 years old, they were now old enough to work for their money, and could choose to spend it on airtime as needed! We presented the idea to them and were pleasantly surprised at how happy they were at the thought of working. They wanted to work with the animals in the micro business, and weren’t too proud to do anything that needed to be done on “the farm”. Their boss Luka was willing to train them and bring them on as official staff. Although we, their parents, are paying their wages and not Hope Village, they are still treated as regular workers with normal responsibilities.

We outfitted them in the same smart blue uniforms and gum boots that other Malawian workers wear.

The job has been good life lesson for them, and they have risen to the occasion – always punctual, respectful, and communicating directly with their co-workers and their boss. They are independent and responsible, and we are so happy they have each other!

It's funny how pig poo can make you smile!

Cleaning the pig pens requires some pig loving time too!

They have a weekly schedule that rotates between 7am mornings and 2pm afternoons. They smile, giggle, chat and even whistle while they work – enjoying cleaning pig pens and rabbit cages, feeding the animals, loving the new baby livestock, and getting some good, old-fashioned friend time with a shovel and a bucket of manure.