$2.

It recently came to my attention that Malawi has a minimum wage. It is set at a monthly rate of 5000 kwacha, corresponding to about $35. A friend of mine brought this up in the context of her boyfriend’s house keeper. She realized that the house keeper was being paid at a wage that was lower than the national standard. After some calculations, I discovered that this wage also puts the worker at an income of less than $2 a day.

Incidentally, my night-watchman is also being paid both under the national standard and less than $2 day. Ever since I realized this I have been very confused.

My roommate and I were not the ones who set the contract with the watchman, and were reassured that he is being paid a decent wage. My first reaction is to be disappointed that the organization I work for might not have been as honourable as they could be in hiring this man,

Now, I am not sure what to do. My immediate response is to raise his monthly salary up to a point which is above the $2/day rate (which would more than double the pay). However, my friend quickly came back with a number of concerns to take into account. First is creating dependency. As I am only here for a few more months, what will my watchman do when I can no longer employ him? Is it fair to raise his salary so drastically for a few months and then leave him with nothing afterwards. Second, is creating disparity. There is some concern about making him the best paid watchman on the block and the communal response that could elicit.

On the flip side, I am extremely uncomfortable with contributing to the global problem of millions of people living on less than $2 a day. Organizations worldwide are working to reduce this devastating poverty. Malawi has been especially hard-hit and has very high national poverty levels. It is not something that I can consciously contribute to, especially when I am in the position to directly affect someone’s income.

If anyone has any insights or suggestions, please let me know. I am really not sure how to handle the situation.