I was taking a tea break with one of my nurses and one of my counselors this week when we started talking about our career paths. I was very interested in how each of them came to be working for UNC and in the STI clinic, and what types of things they had done before coming. Each of them had worked for other research studies at UNC before coming to the STI clinic and I made the comment that I was "very happy" that they were now working in STI (which is true, they are a great team, work well together, and do good work). Wanangwa (the nurse) shook his head and said, "I am happy, but not very happy." I must have looked puzzled since that was not the response I was expecting. The counselor broke in and said, "You see, we cannot be 'very happy' here in Malawi."
"It's true," Wanangwa added, "because of our life here, we can only be 'happy', but ah no, we cannot be 'very happy'."
We went on to have a good discussion about their lives and their situation. Like many Malawians with jobs, they take care of extended families in their home. They are frustrated by lack of opportunities for additional education, professional advancement, high food prices, high transport costs (if you think they are high in the U.S., a gallon of petrol here is about $8...think about that in relation to the average Malawian income). It is a hard life, even for those with stable, relatively well paying jobs. Those words will stick with me for a long time.
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