The Promotion...

...Mai Rudo continued working at the Harare City Centre Branch as a bank teller. She loved her job and served her customers with a smile. There was an old couple from Bindura who would always insist on being served by her when they came to collect their pension, they would bring her little gifts from their field, a watermelon this month, a pumpkin the next.

 A position came up in the Harare City Centre branch and she was invited to an interview but sadly she didn’t get the job, she felt like they were punishing her for declining the Kadoma offer but on the other hand she wondered about the feasibility of it all, the operations manager was the first one in and last one out of the bank, there was no way that would work now. Baba Rudo had become so fussy, refusing to eat maid-cooked sadza or wear maid washed clothes. According to him, the maid was for the children, he had a wife. Never mind that the wife had a job...

It was on a Tuesday evening, she got into the bedroom and found baba Rudo busy ruffling and shuffling in the wardrobe.

‘Maswera sei Mhofu’ she asked as she put her bag on the bed

‘What are you looking for, I can help you look’

‘I need my passport’

‘All the passports are in the khaki envelope in the trunk under the bed, in an envelope written important documents’

‘ahh, thanks. Please hand it to me’

Mai Rudo went on all fours and pulled the trunk from under the bed.

‘There you go, what do you need you passport for’

‘I want applying for a South Sudan Visa, you know Joe went there three months ago and he is doing quite well for himself. He has sent me the visa requirements, an invitation letter, his bank statement, the works. I have a good feeling about this. This could be the break that we have been waiting for’

‘South Sudan? Isn’t South Sudan in the middle of a civil war?’ Mai Rudo asked, struggling to make sense of what she had just heard.

‘Yes, I guess that’s why the salaries are so good. you wouldn't believe the amount of money that a simple driver makes in that country. Joe says he is in a low danger district. I really have a good feeling about this. Joe is confident I will get the visa. When I do, I will go there for a month or two to assess the opportunities, if something comes up we will be set Mai Rudo, I will be earning ma green’

Mai Rudo handed baba vaRudo his passport and quietly made her way to the kitchen to make supper. Incoherent thoughts were racing through her mind; South Sudan, war, school run, security, infidelity, South Sudan, war, sick children, late nights, her masters studies, clean cupboards, loneliness, less shouting, maid cooked sadza, the promotion, South Sudan, war …