SWAP (Michael Coleman)

Chifundo awoke in the softest covering her skin had ever been wrapped in. It smelled fresh and she was so warm, she didn’t want to leave the comfort. A gentle breeze pushed the curtains inwards before swallowing them back. Chifundo did not have to swipe the flies from her eyes this morning or scratch her chocolate skin from any itchy bites. This was the second day of her trip to Ireland and she was in heaven. It was simply unimaginable. She put on some new clothes, brushed her hair and smiled at herself in the extravagant, bedroom mirror. The room surrounded her like a television screen, it was so surreal she thought it was a dream.

Maura swung her arms vivaciously as regiments of flies awoke her. No alarm clock had ever awoken her as quickly. She moaned and jumped from the dusty floor shaking the mean blanket around the air. A sole tear rolled down her gritty face as she longed for her own bed and some make-up. The sun stung her eyes, beaming into the muddy built shack and Maura was quickly realising, that she didn’t have enough sun spray to last her another day. The bedroom, kitchen and dining room, if you could class them such, were all the one room. Rarely did they have much to cook in the kitchen and the dining set resembled glued twigs. Maura stared out from the thatched roof home as the locals slowly awoke. What did they have to get up to, she wondered. Torture are their lives, between disease and flies and malnutrition. An hour crawled past until the rest of the family were awake, complaining of groaning stomach although the stomachs did most of the groaning. Maura felt sorry for the four children and parents. Two of the children had AIDS and all had red, sore eyes. Maura wondered why she had agreed to come here.

Chifundo sat at the table and drank her orange juice slowly, savouring every drop. She took her spoon awkwardly and dunked it into her cornflakes, eating with relish. Toast and raspberry jam followed and the utter sweetness made her stomach jump with delight. She had never tasted food as exquisite as her two days in this house. She was still in awe at the whole thing, they had three bathrooms, each a room of their own, a sitting and a dining room, a kitchen and other rooms she had yet to see. It was a castle. The man of the house explained to her that morning why she was here and she tried to understand but found it confusing.

“Well Chifundo, may daughter is very materialistic and I wanted to show her that she doesn‘t need money to be that happy. Small amounts will do, so that is why I organised for you to come here so you could get your medical treatment and to give my daughter a wakeup call, and maybe she’ll return less demanding.”