By Austin Kananji

Lilongwe, November 25, Mana: The Ministry of Labour held a pre-departure orientation today at Lilongwe Technical College for the first batch of agricultural workers heading to Israel aimed to prepare them for their upcoming roles and responsibilities, with their departure scheduled for Thursday this week.

Speaking at the event, the Director of Planning in the Ministry of Labour, Patricia Zimpita, emphasised the importance of the pre-departure orientation saying it will provide the necessary information to the successful Malawian Agricultural workers which will help them during their tenure in Israel.

“This is to prepare the successful candidates that applied for the agricultural work in Israel under the Malawi-Israel Labour export programme. We are orienting these candidates for them to know what is expected of them, and what they are going to do in Israel and also how they are going to conduct themselves in Israel so that they do not find themselves in trouble or stranded in any instance,” she said.

Director of Legal Services in the Ministry of Labour, Chapusa Phiri, highlighted the importance of conducting the pre-departure orientation which he said will help the successful candidates understand more the terms and conditions of their contract agreement before leaving for Israel.

“I emphasised much on the employment contract to our young Malawians so that they know what they are letting themselves into and understand their responsibilities as they go to Israel,” he said.

In an interview with one of the selected candidates to work in Israel, Lumbani Chiwaka, expressed the benefit of being part of the successful candidates being recruited by the government.

“The importance is that as Malawians we will learn different aspects concerning the type of irrigation to utilise and bring back that knowledge here in Malawi to showcase to others what happens in the farming sector of Israel,” he said.

The pre-departure orientation aimed to equip the first 29 Malawian agricultural workers as recruited by the government with crucial information about their upcoming employment in Israel by emphasizing the importance of understanding their contracts, and expectations, as per the Memorandum of Understanding which also differentiates it from the previous departures made by the private recruiters where workers were deployed with no orientation on the nurture of the agricultural jobs.