Minimum wages in perspective

On the third day of our hike in the Mulanje massif in southern Malawiwe descended from the Chambe overnight hut to the forestry station via the amazingly scenic and dangerously steep skyline route.  As we gingerly made our way down the rocky path we were overtaken by plank porters, bare footed and wearing nothing but a tattered pair of trousers.  Each balanced one or two 4 m planks of pine or cedar wood on his head.  We estimated the weight of one plank at 20 – 30 kg.  Porters are the only method of bringing cut planks from these forests at 1,800 to 2,000 m altitude down to the logging camp at 700m.  Each porter can only do one return journey per day, which takes 3.5 hours of exhaustive physical labour to complete.  In the wet season it may take even longer as the paths become slippery and treacherous and one foot set wrong can result in an fatal or crippling accident.  Besides, porters probably have subsistence crops to tend to in the afternoon.

The remuneration for this kind of work: 30 kwatcha per plank (approx. R4.25).  On average we’ve paid 50 kwatcha per beer in Malawi.  The earning potential of a porter carrying 2 planks per day, 6 days a week, 4 weeks a month is K1,440 monthly (approx. R205.-).  The weaker and less experienced that can carry only one plank at a time earn half of this.  The minimum monthly wage in Malawi is in the region of K1,500.

On the Zomba Plateau there is a similar wood carrying scenario.  Here a tar road makes up about 90% of the altitude difference of 900 m.  Instead of carrying planks on their heads, these guys transport firewood on their bicycles.  As the road is quite steep, most of them push their bikes up to the plateau where they load 50 – 70 kg of half-metre lengths of firewood onto their especially built carriers and then walk the bicycle down into the town below.  Since most bikes don’t have functional brakes these guys require all their strength to prevent the bicycle from running away from them.

There is no set wage per load of firewood but the intrinsic value of firewood is less than that of a cut plank.  The women take a short cut footpath down the side of the plateau carrying up to 30 kg of bundled sticks and branches balanced on their heads. 

Think about this next time you complain about being overworked and underpaid!