Good deeds going unpunished (so far)

I have a confession to make. I didn't make it to church today with Pamela, Sister Anastasia's daughter. However, I do have a good reason, besides wanting to sleep in this morning(incidentally, I've given up on sleeping in here. The latest I've been able to sleep in so far has been 9 a.m. For me this is not late at all, but I digress). The reason I didn't make it to church is because I needed to help out my friend Leah (the woman who toured "Village to Village" with me last Saturday). Unfortunately, Leah's situation has not been so rosy since she left the peaceful paradise of Domasi College a week ago to fill her post at another college outside of Blantyre, about 45 minutes drive southwest of here. There had been several issues regarding serious miscommunication which she needed to clear up, and depending upon how things go, she may either change posts, or have to leave Malawi altogether.

I feel very badly for her, because it sounds like things have not been handled well, and definitely by no fault of her own. She is a very strong, sweet person, but has just been handed a bad deal, and I understand how she feels, as I've experienced similar unfair treatment at a workplace in the recent past, so I really wanted to help her out. You see, since she came here her housing hasn't been sorted out, and when she finally went to her country representative to discuss the problem after 2 and a half weeks in the country without housing (most of which was spent staying with Betsy here on campus, and then with another instructor at her host institution), this person not only gave her a verbal tongue-lashing (from the sound of it), but then proceeded to write up a memo, copying several people from her organization, the minister of education, as well as the woman whose home she shares and the people she works with. In this written memo which she shared with me, several unfair, exaggerated, and untrue comments were made, unfairly attacking the character of a person who truly has been handling an extremely uncomfortable situation with a lot more patience and dignity than most people would.

Because I'm a crusader for people being wronged, especially because this sort of thing recently happened to me at my last place of employment, I really felt the need to do what I could to help Leah out. Her main task was to finish composing a response to the unfair attack on her character and misrepresentation of her words and actions. She'd been staying with another friend in Zomba, but his internet connection was not as reliable as ours here at Domasi College. The connection we have really rocks! Since Leah had already made a draft of the e-mail she intended to send, I simply helped her to clarify some of the wording. Of course, I was a bit upset with how she'd been treated, so wanted to make it much stronger than she did, so she had to rein me in a bit. In the end, I think we composed a presentable and effective response together, and hopefully the impending response from her country representative, the host institution, and her sponsoring organization will lead to an agreeable compromise.

I really hope that things can be worked out so Leah can stay here in Malawi, as she's someone I really enjoy talking to, and hanging around with. I also think she has a lot to offer the people here, and has a very positive energy. It just amazes me how so often it seems that incompetent people with just a little power tend to find every way they can to drag others down in order to save themselves.

Hopefully, I can save Leah from the discomfort I dealt with at the hands of similar treatment by my most recent employers. My only hope is that in my own small way, I can turn 2 lousy wrongs into a "right," or at least help someone else get out of a terrible situation before she is consumed with self-doubt and anxiety. Hopefully the answer will be a better post in Malawi, but we shall see.

The nice part of this story is that we ended the evening by coming across a soccer match at the sports field here on campus, about an hour before sundown. It was a nice way to end a rather stressful week for Leah, and seemed to leave her with a better feeling about being in Malawi, knowing that there are good places and people here, if only she is given the opportunity to make a move. I think there may be too many "Mazungus" here at Domasi College already, or perhaps I'd get another roomate, which would be nice. Hmmm... Maybe I should help her write another e-mail (???)

Another nice thing for me was to be able to see how lucky I am to be here, in this place, and that perhaps my kharma has truly changed after making this life-changing decision, partially due to the extremely negative work environment I recently endured. I'm only sorry that someone else is suffering from a similar fate I recently escaped. She's strong, and she'll be o.k. I just hope I can still "hang out" with her after she figures out her next move. For now, we'll just hope for the best.

I suppose in the end my 'chesed' ('good deed' in Yiddish, as Leah taught me today) was not completely selfless, as I'm hoping I've made a good friend out of it, which is really helping me as well. Does that still make up for missing church this morning? I'll have to consult the Sister on that one. I'll keep you posted.