Of UK petty jobs part 11

Hi Africa! I want to carry on from my earlier posting Of UK Petty Jobs which raised alot of interest. This is in defence of the African bright boys and girls who are kindly looking after the security of the UK, aging Brits and their disabled grands but pitied in Africa for the nature of their jobs in the UK.

Why do we go for petty jobs when we come to the UK? There are several reasons. I don't want to talk again of the good pay we get here as compared to the pay back home. In this posting I will turn to the nature of the UK petty jobs. High on demand are such jobs as security (ma gadi), care and support work.

Before I came to the UK I was told of a friend, a graduate from the University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, Private Bag 303, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, who was working in the UK as a security guard! I could visualise him patrolling a building with a baton stick in his hand in freezing temperature (Ndinamva chisoni). My world of a security guard was that of the mulonda we have in Malawi who sleeps outside the house and often gets beaten by burglars. Well, my thinking could not be more wrong (ntchito ya ulonda kuno sichoncho). In the UK a security person seats on a good chair in a good room and monitors security screens that monitors a building. If the guard suspects burglary you phone the police (suwathamangitsa kapena kumenyana nawo). I actually admire a Nigerian student (ndidziko liti sungawapeze) at Sunderland University who works as a security guard at Donalisa's place of work. He seats down with his study books open before him on his table studying and occasionally glancing at the screens. I suspect that he takes a look at the screens when he hears footsteps (Kuopa ingamuthele). I thought what a fantastic job for a student! I would have loved to have such a job but my worry was what if you guys hear of me? (Ndikusowa zochita kumudziko nkhani ikhala ine...wamva Cryton ndi mulondatu pa UK). In Africa we value status even without money and I am still very African of course getting converted steadily.

Now to the BBC (British Bottom Cleaners) job: In the UK, just like in many developed countries, there are loads of factories which offer many job opportunities. However factory jobs are very draining (ntchito zake ndi kawawa). The moment you work in a factory its when you realise that the Brits (even girls) are strong people (kumudziko timanamizana kuti ife aMalawi ndife olimbikila ntchito. Bwela uzazione kuno). You compete with machines. An African cannot study after a factory job (ntchito zake ndizokalambitsa). I can't recommend a factory job for a student. The BBC jobs are the relatively easier jobs especially working nights. This is the case because the residents sleep at night (ndiye iwenso umapha tulo so I am told) that gives a chance for the carer to have a rest. The other point is that in a country where you are paid per hour night jobs offer more pay than office work which normally starts 9am to 5pm - 7 1/2 paid hours only with half an hour unpaid for break. I know of a friend who had to quit office work for a carer's job for more hours of work (Kumeneko timati kudziwa mavuto ako). Over and above it is not that easy to get a job that can allow one to study at the same time.

My advice for African students in the UK who do not have much to offer in terms of professional qualifications is to go for the security and care jobs (kukakhala kulankhula ndi kwawo). However even after any work in the UK you need an alarm to work up! Thupi limakhala tsooo kupweteka. Mumatipephatu ndalama zamagazi.

Well, your advice to survive in diaspora is welcome on this page. I am still waiting for the intervention ya Bingu - scholarship (Tawauzani). Ine wanu wanu Cryton Chikoko

Testing political rhetoric

On 5th February I was delighted to read in the online Nation Newspaper the Malawi president's renewal on his pledge for scholarships to Malawian journalists that need further training. According to the paper, Mutharika stressed that it was up to journalists themselves to take him on the offer. The President said this during his second meeting with journalists from both the public and private sector at the New State House in Lilongwe. I attended the first meeting. According to the President, no one has approached him on the training issue. Obviously as a journalist who is studying and in need of funds I wanted to test this rhetoric. So what did I do? Being a pious person, I phoned my pious 'friend' close to the President, the Presidential Advisor on Religious Affairs, Malani Mtonga. Who assured me that indeed the president is ready to honour his pledge. He encouraged me to send my application to the president through his office. A thing which I quickly did with no response up to date. Tsono AMalawi, zinduna, anzao a Bingu, ana a a Bingu, ana a zinduna ndi inu nonse munganfikile Bingu tandithandizani follow up. Ine ndikufuna scholarship: the balance tuition for my MA studies, tution for my further research work ndi upkeep allowance mwina ine ndi Dona nkunyaudako pa UK. Inu amene munakhalapo pa scholarship kapena muli pa scholarship kodi nanga tikati scholarship sizimezi? Help me to test if this was a mere polital rhetoric or not.

Ine wanu wanu wokondeka Cryton Chikoko

The Pub - the new English cathedral

Do you know the best way to tell what shakes/moves or worshipped by a society? Watch their soap operas. Any play writer and producer worth the name wants his/her play to reflect real life. For a play to be believed it has to reflect what is going on in the society which it is trying to serve. Kaya kumene muli inuko what does your soaps depict? Tiuzeni.

In Malawi all soap operas have funerals and preachings included. This tells you how significant the gospel and funerals are as part of the Malawian society.

In the UK, take for example the popular BBC television soap opera EastEnders. What does it tell us about the British society? Pub culture and promiscuity rank high in this society. At the center of EastEnders is the Pub - the new English cathedral and sex. Actors meet in the pub. The pub is very central to everything in the play. A soap without a pub cannot be believed because its just not true. You just need to go out any night with the climax being Friday and Saturday nights to see men and women who dress very reluctantly in freezing temperatures (Umati awatu samafuna kumvala kaya ndindani wawakakamiza) for you to see the drank Brits crawling from one pub to another. The drinking culture has brought a huge effect on the English church. The reported weekly church attendance in the U.K. is now below 8 percent. Many people are flocking away from the church to worship the bottle and sex with the consequences of the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe (tingoti dziko lonse lapansi) and abortion on demand as a habit. Hospital casualty staff spend most of the nights treating drink-related injuries. It all has to do with the U.K. 'cathedrals' which are elected on every street and corner.

In Malawi the creative Story Workshop Zimachitika, a Kapalepale (Sewero La Sabata Ino) and the many other emerging plays on the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation and Television Malawi can not do without a HIV/AIDS death scenario and a church service. This tells how central the church is to our society and the unprecedented death rate due to HIV/AIDS in Malawi...being 8Th highest in global ranking in HIV and AIDS cases with approximately 84 000 new orphans every year and life expectancy of 39.7 years!

My beloved Malawi is a grieving society and the UK is a pub society. I hate both with the same measure.

Of UK petty jobs

Understandably there is a great outcry in African countries about their bright boys and girls doing care, cleaning jobs in the West. I was told by a friend from Kenya that in her country they have given the name BBC for Kenyans working in the UK. BBC meaning British Bottom Cleaners (Zachipongwe basi). As for Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, he has no any kind word for his own people working in the UK (uyo ali ndi mavuto ake osantengela).

I should point out that in a country where many have university degrees and a narrow pay margin its common for graduates to do petty jobs unlike in most African countries where to have a degree is a big thing let alone a masters degree.

Mistakenly these petty jobs are linked with Africans only within African communities. That is not the case. Even many native English graduates do have same jobs. Of course there are Africans and native English graduates who are in professional jobs. On the other side I know of African and English graduates who are also in non-professional jobs. Sikhani iyi kuno.

A case in point is my colleague aged 27. Today while we were busy stacking groceries in the shop, Sarah told me that she is studying towards her second masters degree! Here is an English girl with a first degree, a masters degree and soon to graduate with her second masters in a petty job .....stacking shelves in a shop! She is not the only one. I have a colleague who have a degree in media and television studies who stacks produce stocks in the shop.

I must say that I am happy to study full time and flexibly work which is not possible in Malawi. Of the thirteen students in my masters class there is only one student who is in a professional job!

The fact is these petty jobs are well paying, if we compare with the perks we were getting back in Malawi. Of course being a student I work few hours to concentrate on my studies but these few hours give a pay more than that of some chief executives in Malawi. It all goes down to a powerful economy here hence there is no huge gap between high and low earners.

We are able, through such jobs, to make ends meet and help relatives and charities in Malawi. I therefore see that its no big deal to do petty jobs. In an case the English (ini ake akuno) are also doing the very same jobs.

By the way for the first time in my life I once worked for a pay. A thing which I have never did back home. Wherever I have worked I regarded myself as a volunteer in Malawi. It was all because my Malawian pay was always spent on the pay day! We always lived hand to mouth. I had to develop faith and live by it.

Tony Blair at one time rightly described the poverty levels in Africa as shameful. Tichitepo kanthu AMalawi kusintha dziko lathu.

The truth is after obtaining a master degree in the UK and managing to get a good job in Africa it will be a a miracle to be payed like a UK cleaner. A UK compulsory minimun pay is for the very few bosses in Africa! Very Sad.

I must hasten to say that I am now looking for a professional job - not an easy thing on a full time education. I need your prayers.