Trampy Guard

I live in a beautiful compound surrounded with a high fence wall with electric wires at the very top. There are 3 semi-detached 2 bedroom flats and I live in the middle one between a Kenyan woman and a British woman both around my age. There is a lush garden all around and then another small building where the man who was hired by the landlord to keep up the property.  His name is Noel and he has a wife and two small boys that live with him. Noel is he best! For example, our friend left his bike here with a flat tire and in the morning Noel had already fixed the tire. He always has a giant smile and he is very patient with me when I am practicing my Chichewa. I give his wife 2000 kwacha ($12) a month to clean my house on Wednesdays and do my laundry.

My work gives me 9000 kwacha ($53) a month to hire a night guard. He works 6 nights a week and comes at sun down around 6pm and leaves around 5 in the morning. One of us 3 girls will leave our porch light on and he sets up this 2.5 foot high and 4 feet long makeshift curtain and he sits on the floor behind it with a flimsy school workbook. I think he is in his fifties and he looks like what a homeless person would look like at home in Canada, This is why the British neighbour calls

him “Trampy Guard’,  I know nothing about his life but I feel horrible about what I see of it. Today at 8pm I remembered to check if anyone had turned on the light for him and he was sitting on the step in the dark because my bike was up against the wall that he sits against. He just sat there because he can’t speak English and thought he couldn’t ask me to move it. I have such guilt about sitting here in my comfy bed, under a mosquito net with my laptop while he sits out there. I try to make myself feel better by saying at least it is an income but it is a shitty income and a shitty job. Just because it may be better than what others have here doesn’t make it good.