As Mikkel mentioned, we had a bit of a shock after we came home, when we heard that our dear ‘Henk’ (the househelp) actually turned out not to be the guy we thought he was. He’s in prison now. And... he has a child, which he never told us about! Now - was he really just fooling us with his innocence? We were under the impression that he still was a child himself! (I seriously thought that he never even touched a girl).
Maybe he had the ‘wrong friends’ who pushed him into stealing the 2 bank checks from my housemate’s room. Maybe he wouldn’t have done such a thing otherwise. Perhaps we’ll find out one day if we can visit him in prison. Although he is surely not getting all the nice goodies we brought for him…a laptop, a study lamp, a bag and a phone.
Bitter detail: The ‘friend’ that convinced him to join the money scam, was somebody he met at the school that we sponsored for him –as an investment in his future:-/
The leaving of our Henk has brought along a few other problems. An empty fridge, washing piled up, and ullghhh, cockroaches multiplying. But it gets more shocking: Suddenly we have to cook for ourselves! No, just kidding. We actually like doing that ourselves for the moment but since we are five people in the house, not really students anymore and all have jobs that don’t necessarily finish at 6pm, we really don’t mind paying someone else to buy cook our food. The search for a new Henk has started.
It’s almost worth a tv show. The first one brags that he speaks English and then when he comes to visit it turns out that he can proudly say ‘My name is Kevin’. If only he understood some, but no, he clearly does not actually understand a-single-word. Interesting. The second one, a 50 year old widow lady with 4 children -and according to her previous boss a great cook- makes us feel terribly bad as soon as she gives us her ‘rates’ and we realize that she is too expensive for us (‘embassy salary’).
This is ridiculous, because at the same time we know that her salary could never even support her 4 children to get an education! So who are we fooling here? If we really want a househelp who is trustworthy and can clean, wash, shop and cook brilliantly... we should surely pay him or her a great wage? I mean, the fact that 90 % of the people in this country is underpaid like that – should that just make us conform to that? Hmm.
We ended up in a sort of compromise, giving her responsibility of our kitchen and less working hours (as she liked), while we would hire someone else for the ‘hard work’: the washing and cleaning. Then, 5 days later when she’s supposed to start, she simply doesn’t show up. Turns out she found a better paid and fulltime job. Good for her!
But for us, the search goes on…We have another 'interview' tonight. And this blog is in memory of our once beloved Henk, who is not innocent anymore and never will be. We miss him.
PS. Hereby a link to an article (and photo!) on an event organized by Mikkels’ organization last Thursday. It was called ‘Kigali Business Inspiration’ and took place in the fanciest hotel in town…
2 comments:
Hi! Well for Henk we still don't know how (unhappy) he ended up, but for us all's good! I got rid of the roaches with some magic powder (boric acid) and we have a lovely new lady-cook who surprises us with meals, flowers in our rooms and a great singing voice!
Hey,
succes met de nieuwe Henk.
Trouwens nog iets meegekregen van de vulkaan in Congo? Vanaf Gisenyi en ook Kibuye kun je hem in het donker prima zien oplichten. Best uniek...
liefs Roald
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