The King of Kapenta

I’ve given my right-hand kapenta fishing man, Mubita, a shout out here and there, but I certainly haven’t given enough credit where credit is due. This guy is indispensible.

Jobs in the kapenta fishing industry are rarely 5 day/40 hour a week jobs. Mubita’s is no exception. When we are fishing locally and parking our boats at the nearby harbor, Mubita is there every single afternoon to see the boats off, making sure they are ready to go, and he’s there every single morning when the boats come in, weighing and selling the catches, recording the sales and inspecting both boats.

When our guys are camped out at Chirundundike Island, Mubita is there, supervising it all and keeping our fishermen in line.

During the full moon breaks, while our fishermen are all off duty, Mubita is working with me nearly every day, planning for the coming month, arranging maintenance work and making reports.

It’s not uncommon for us to work together every day of the month without a single day off.

And you know what’s interesting? He has never complained. He loves to work. I’ve even tried to force him to take a few days off recently and he’s flat out refused, because there’s work to be done.

And still, for all his efforts, Mubita’s salary remains well below the average industry wage for his position. And, on top of that, he doesn’t get the respect he deserves from the Namumu Management Team. He’s more or less treated like a second class citizen. It’s a real shame.

But don’t worry, I tell him how awesome he is from time to time to keep his spirits afloat. If you want to tell him how awesome he is just drop a comment and I’ll deliver the message.

Mubita lives in a small, one-room home with burned brick walls and a grass roof. He’s got a cute little wife who cooks for him every night. He has an “I Love Jesus” baseball cap that he wears nearly every day. Obviously, Mubita doesn’t live a lavish lifestyle, but I still think he’s doing alright.

In his spare time Mubita really likes to read. I’m proud to say that, in addition to his daily Bible reading he is a member of the Namumu Book Club. He’s getting really into the Hardy Boys series. Thanks to my friend, Sylvia, the Namumu library contains around a bazillion Hardy Boys books (was that guy Dixon writing all day every day of his life?), so Mubita should be busy with that for a while. The other day, while we were working on the boats, he gave me a full on play by play of “The Hardy Boys: Camp Death” or something like that, which took over an hour. Can’t say it sounded like my cup of tea, but I’m glad he’s enjoying it.

I’ve fielded a number of requests for prayer requests. Today, pray that God will give Mubita the strength to carry on under the present conditions, because Namumu got more than they bargained for with him. Let’s hope he sticks around.