Eau de toilet

Things have not started well back here in Lilongwe.

I arrived home to find huge puddles of water on the floor where rain has been leaking through roof but a few swishes of the mop cleared that up and I’m pretending not to notice the ever-growing circles of damp on the ceiling tiles.

The garden is a complete mess, it looks like mini trench warfare has broken out and there are piles of sticky earth, rubble, rubbish and all sorts poking out of ground. It seems that several new cesspits were dug over the holidays but I’m not sure they’re working terribly well as there is a general eau de toilet in the air – pooof!

The worst news though is that Hardwick is in jail. Apparently some things were going missing round about and he and another chap were caught and so marched off by the police and now goodness knows whats become of them. The Landlord has been having issues at the farm too where goats have been sold off, diesel taken and either maize seed or something like that pilfered so maybe it was just the last straw. Maybe he was responsible, maybe he wasn’t, I’ll never know but I still liked the guy. Before I left for Malamulo, I gave him a Christmas box with some clothes, some food treats, some money and toys for his grandchildren – he was hopping out, big grin on his face saying what a ‘lucky bugger’ he was. It made me really sad, that such a tiny thing meant so much to him and that he referred to himself in that way – it reminded me of Giel Piet in the Power of One, a clever old lag in the prison that played the system to the benefit of his fellow prisoners but who ultimately died at the hands of a guard.

I feel so bad because he has no one to stick up for him. My friend said that the worst thing I could do is get involved because although we all know that police corruption exists, the stories of brutality and torture are just too awful and my showing up might mean he gets an even worse deal that if I just leave the whole thing alone. The only thing I can think of is to try and get help (money) to his family. Luckily, their address was on that letter that Hardwick wrote to mining company so I’ve sent them a message but Mr Landlord can’t find out – I don’t want him to think I’m taking sides, especially against him, as he is a formidable character that I wouldn’t like to cross.