Our Housekeeper

Earlier this week, we hired a housekeeper, Margaret.  So far, she's done an amazing job -- she cleans (up to Lily's impossible standards even!) and cooks.  The first meal she made for us was spaghetti with swiss chard, onions, garlic (oops, I forgot to pick that up), and feta.  It was good:

The hiring of a housekeeper and more specifically the wage we pay her has been an eye-opening, and perspective enhancing, experience.  We pay Margaret 30,000 kwacha a month (roughly $75) to work 3 days a week.  That seems so meagre to me that I feel guilty about it but a few (sad) facts have assuaged my conscience.  First, apparently this type of work is one of the more desirable options for working women.  Moreover, that $75 a month is basically the expat overpay rate -- it's actually about 4 times higher than the government approved rate for housekeepers (about $1.50/day!).

Margaret seems very happy to have the job -- in fact, our original plan was to hire a different woman before Margaret came knocking on her door asking if we needed help, telling us that she had worked for the previous tenant (a South African woman).  A week into her work for us and I can say with certainty that we're very lucky to have her.