One of the many challenges we face here in Swaziland is
trying to manage payroll on a monthly basis for 240+ workers. Everything is done manually including work
attendance, sick days, days off, hirings and firings. At the end of each month, each Supervisor provides Ian with
a list of names and payment owed for that month’s work. Total payroll is calculated and then
Ian drives to town (about an hour away) and goes to the bank to take out the
cash (with a specific number of each bill and coin needed) and then comes back
to begin the laborious job of putting the exact amount of money in each
envelop.
The last Friday of each month is Pay Day and it’s a half day
of work. Each person lines up to
receive their envelope and pay slip.
They take the money out, in front of their Supervisor and a witness
(usually one of our volunteers), and then they count the money to insure it is
correct, then sign a paper saying that they received that amount.
Every person leaving the farm is known to have cash on them,
thereby putting them at risk and when they get home they need to hide the money
well from children and others who are in need.
This was driving Ian CRAZY and after hiring a new Book
Keeper/Administrator he tasked her with finding a new payroll system and
implementing it. One month later, we have a new system ready to roll!
Here is the interesting part … the new system requires
everyone to have a bank account so that we can directly deposit the money in to
their account (thereby eliminating all of work listed above). Out of our 240+ workers, only eight (8)
already had bank accounts. We
brought a representative from the FNB Bank out to Project Canaan to help get
everyone signed up with an account.
This was a very interesting exercise for two reasons. First,
there were many people who were concerned that the money would go in to their
account and then just disappear (where to, they did not know). Education and reassurance was
important. The second was
that in order to get a bank account you have to have a Swazi ID card, which is the
most basic form of personal identification that someone can get in
Swaziland. More than 30% of our
workers did not have a Swazi ID card, therefore they had no personal
identification of any kind. It
took each of them several trips to town and full days waiting in line to get a
Swazi ID card. Many of them had to
first apply for a birth certificate (requiring signatures from their local
Chief to prove that they were actually born there) and then once they had that they
could apply for the ID card.
Imagine being an adult with no Identification papers? Many of our workers cannot read or
write so their signatures are made with a thumb print with an ink pad.
I have learned so much in the past 10 years of working in
Swaziland, but many days I feel like I have just scratched the surface of my
knowledge of how things work here.
The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.
We believe we made progress this week and next week’s
payroll will be simpler and much more efficient. But to me, the greatest thing that came out of all of this
was that 65+ people now “exist” officially here in Swaziland.
Live from Swaziland … living and learning.
Janine
PS Since I don’t have any good photos to go with this blog I
will just shamelessly promote three new items in our gift shop that are hand
made here at Project Canaan. As
always, 100% of the profit goes directly back to help the children who live at
Project Canaan. The link to shop
is https://squareup.com/market/heart-for-africa
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| Egg holders - the perfect Easter gift. |
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