At the conclusion of a Ministry of Education meeting I attended today (sponsored by a Flemish organisation), each person is given a transportation and sitting allowance - 50 000 Kwacha (a little over 10 US$). It’s not a lot of money, but I am having trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that people at any kind of formal gathering expect this money. According to an NGO worker, some people will not attend a meeting/workshop that does not have an allowance. So in effect, the organisers must offer compensation to those who attend and I guess guarantee some kind of attendance.
It was obvious that people stayed to the end of the meeting for the money and I should not be surprised at the number of people blatantly napping. I had a hard time deciding if I take this money. My thinking process in the end was if I don’t take the money it will probably just go into someone else’s pocket. I could give the money to my organisation (which technically provided my transportation), but no one else does that and again it would probably just go into a pocket. I took the money, although now I’m not sure what to do with it.
1 comment:
So what IS your job exactly? what Are you supposed to be doing there? And did the decision to take the allowance for the meeting make you reflect on that corruption line activity we did? ha. I got my flight itinary today. First reaction was to burst into tears. Is that bad? I decided putting my head on my desk and sobbing wasn't perhaps the thing to do. It might freak out my coworkers.
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