I want to share a quick anecdote from my orientation 2 weeks ago.
A large group of WUSC volunteers and staff were having lunch at a restaurant with an outdoor patio in the Capital City area of Lilongwe- basically the business district. I enjoyed my lunch, but with the heat, my lack of appetite from jet-lag, etc., I certainly did not finish all my food, particularly the ‘chips’ (aka fries), which I have found to be a lot greasier here than in Canada. As the lunch was drawing to a close, I noticed my friends around the table were focusing a lot of attention on a conversation happening near me, between a WUSC staff member (who was sitting beside me) and a person who I just assumed to be the waiter, standing right behind me out of my eyesight. The conversation was in Chichewa, so I did not understand, but figured the discussion was over the bill. Many faces around the table began to exchange semi-awkward glances, so I turned in my chair to see what was going on. Instead of the waiter I was expecting, I saw a frantic, dirty, disheveled, hungry man, who was pointing repeatedly to the pile of leftover food on my plate.
“He wants the fries”, someone suggested from across the table. My heart sank. My fries? My greasy fries?! The staff member looked at me sadly and said, “Are you finished?” Of course by this point I felt silly for not having clued in sooner to the interaction occurring behind me. I stammered, “Yes! Yes! Of course…” and handed the man my plate. He quickly pulled a plastic bag out of his dirty jeans pocket, and started stuffing fistfuls of my greasy, leftover fries into the baggy. By this point, the restaurant wait-staff had been alerted to this “problem”, ran over to our table, and dragged the man out of the restaurant by his shirt collar. I felt awful. Had I noticed him standing there earlier, I could have given him my ‘leftovers’ more quickly, and avoided having him noticed by the staff and thrown out like a second-class citizen.
Now I know the restaurant workers cannot have people like this man browsing customers’ leftovers on their patio on a regular basis; they have a business to run, and mouths of their own to feed at home. People like this man scare away customers in Malawi, just as he would at home. But still, I could not help but be taken aback by the situation and scared by the crazed look of desperation on the man’s face.
The sad part is, a few minutes later our hungry friend was back for more. My friend offered her plate right away when she saw him, and instructed him to go sit at another table, so as not to be noticed by the wait-staff once again. I suppose he did not understand her suggestion, as he quickly squatted on the ground by our table and began to stuff more food into his baggy… but not before he was spotted by another waiter. This time, he was ‘escorted’ out by 3 workers, and I wondered what would become of this hungry guy. Would they simply let him go like the first time? I thought not. Would they rough him up a bit to make sure he got the message this time? I thought maybe.
I know without a doubt that from now on, whenever I leave food on my plate at a restaurant, this man’s face will pop into my head. I will wonder where he is and how he’s doing, I’ll wonder if he is still begging for leftovers at restaurants across Lilongwe, and I will wonder what on earth it would feel like to be so entirely desperate for food, that I would risk punishment for a full belly.
Love to all,
Jacqueline.
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