Editor, RE: “My advice to our young graduates, sell chapattis” (The New Times, November 11). Young Chinese are making billions of money out of small skills they have acquired. Take an example from here: in East Africa, one can be a graduate in mechanical engineering after more than 15 years in school; what is on this graduate’s mind is getting a job in big firms and then later acquire some money to establish his own firm, call it a garage. The journey is too long. However a young Chinese who has studied mechanical skills for 3 years from technical college after finishing his primary school education has immediately established his garage. At this point, they employ “the deep pocket rule” dealing with “him” who has money. More energy needs to be put in empowering our graduates with more practical skills than theories. The world of being at university campus is absolutely different from the world of outside the campus. I would choose a Chinese way of life if there was a time to restart. Yulian ************* There is indeed a problematic attitude towards “menial labour”, not just in Rwanda, but in Africa in general. It is not unusual in African countries to find a relatively high number of university graduates, coupled with high level of youth unemployment. We look down on vocations like auto-mechanic, carpentry, plumbing, painting, tailoring, masonry, etc. We Africans tend to relegate these jobs to the realm of the poor working class, and accordingly compensate them with low wages. In a country like Germany, your average auto mechanic earns more in a month than an entry-level mechanical engineer. Let that sink in for a minute. Germany is Europe’s strongest economy. Manufacturing put them up there. The majority of manufacturing jobs in Germany are what we in Rwanda would derisively label as “menial labour”. Fortunately, there is a lot of progress being made with developing TVET schools in Rwanda (with the help of Germany, among others. Aha!). We are cheating ourselves on this continent, when we attach stigma to working with your hands to earn a living. I think this is a self-esteem issue that follows us from our colonial past. The colonialist owned the land and we worked the field. There is an indentured servitude and maybe even slavery vibe that we Africans subconsciously attach to “working class jobs”. There is a kind of unwashed and primitive aura we associate with those who do not hold a university degree. We are basically, carrying on the second-classism in our societies today, which we endured under colonialism. How free are we, in the end, then? How independent are we when we seem to have adopted and perpetuated the obtuse world views of our former oppressors? A mechanic or painter or carpenter in the industrialized economies of this world earns a substantial living, because they are valued in their society. As Mr. Ntayombya pointed out, working with your hands is celebrated in the West. Yet, here on the continent, with a predominantly youthful demographic across most African countries, we are still teaching the youth to look down on manual labour. We are cheating ourselves. Dayo Ntwari
