Blessed are the Poor 2/4/07

A parable came to life as I was giving out pay at Oloile this past Tuesday evening. The teachers are paid between $185 and $225 a month here at the school, and those salaries are noticeably higher than many private schools around. But most of the staff had taken advances on their pay checks, which meant that as the remainders were given out at Month's end, the amounts were between $85 and $210. As we handed them each their cash and had them sign for it, the teachers counted quickly what they had been given and heartily thanked me. And though I took each occasion to thank them in turn, for the work was theirs not mine,I felt a bit sick at the picture I was painting: a white man handing out small salaries to a line of black workers. The image was a throw back to colonialism. I think, next month I will have the head teacher administer payroll instead.

The Biblical lesson came through at the end of the evening as the rain outside threatened flood, and we all worried we would not make it back across the river to town. David Kilelo, a middle aged Maasai warrior and the security guard here, sat down with his bow and arrow beside him to receive his monthly income. He, like the rest, had taken an advance on his 5000 shillings and the remainder was a mere 3200, which is about $50. That was his monthly pay. But the joy he took in receiving it and the pride he put into slowly sketching out his name in capital letters, brought a knot to my throat and that funny sensation in the stomach that comes before crying. "Blessed are thepoor", Jesus says, and at times I know what he means.