Won't Somebody Think Of The Orphans?

I have nothing against orphans. I've read the first fifty pages of Oliver Twist. I've seen countless commercials asking for donations, commercials that featured orphans, both smiling and crying. I fully support orphans, both in their right to be orphans and in their right to exist.

That said, yesterday I found myself unmoved by a woman who suggested that orphans might be a good charity for a fellow volunteer.

Several weeks ago, Aisha, the landlady of a fellow volunteer, paid her a visit. The volunteer, Janna, has been living in a hand-me-down house. Outgoing volunteers pass down decent houses to incoming volunteers, and this house has lasted several generations. In an effort to reach out to her new tenant, Aisha started the conversation by raising the rent by 15% remarking that the prior volunteer tenant had been a better person, and that she just didn't like Janna.

Janna, in turn, found another house. One where her landlady might not start conversations by raising rent and calling into question her worth as a human being. And when she was able to get in touch with Aisha, she said that she would be moving. That she had found a nicer house for a better price and that she could no longer keep the old hand-me-down house.

Yesterday, Aisha popped in. With a translator. Janna won't be moving for another week or so, and Aisha wanted to put up a fight for her tenant. Since insulting hadn't worked, she decided to change tactics. I was sitting in the other room at the time, and what I heard translates to,

"You need to understand, this woman has orphans."

As I mentioned, I have nothing against orphans. I think that many orphans are fine people, upstanding members of society. Given my hopes for a long life, you might say that I aspire to one day be an orphan myself. But when Aisha's translator brought up her orphans as a reason why Janna should stay put and hang onto her overpriced house, found reacted in a less-respectful way.

So please don't take this the wrong way, but here in Mauritania, I've finally found an orphan joke that really does make me laugh.