Jobseeker’s Diary

I love the month of February, for obvious reasons. Those two or three days make a whole lot of difference, most notable of which has to be getting paid early. I’m sure we’ll all be smiling by the end of the week. About work, aren’t you glad you live and work in Africa? I am, for many reasons. Of course I hope to live and work in the US or Europe someday but right now, I’m just happy to be here. Most of us don’t make that much money but we can celebrate the fact that we’re not facing tough austerity measures the way people in Europe are. I just read another of those stories from Greece and if I wasn’t sure before, I’m now certain I wouldn’t want to live there under the current economic gripe. I was particularly drawn to the revelation that some employees are going to have to work without pay while others might have to pay for having a job.Perhaps worse than those scenarios is having, to return money you earned in the past. I can imagine the conversation between me and the boss if the same were required of me: “So Sophie, I called you here because there’s something you need to know. Due to a shortage of funds, we need to cut back on our spending and management has decided that with immediate effect, you will not be getting your monthly salary. It’s not that we don’t value your contribution to this company but we are sincerely unable to pay anyone at the moment. We’re not sure how long this will last but we will let you know of any changes in policy if and when the situation changes...” Like I would work without pay! As for reimbursing money I’d spent in the past, I swear I wouldn’t. I mean, what would they do to me especially if it was clear I’d lost my job? In any case, I would have earned that money in the first place so I would not return any of it. I still don’t understand these politicians’ obsession with staying in the Euro zone. There was life before the EU and there will be life after it. The cracks are widening and we all know it’s a matter of time because it all comes crashing down. All this austerity is just making life even harder for the common man and politicians need to put their ambitions and egos aside and find other ways to cut the deficit without hurting the people. Speaking of hurting people, why is the world looking on as Bashar-al-Assad continues to massacre Syrians? In fact now he’s killing non-Syrians too. Marie Colvin is just one of several foreign journalists who’ve lost their lives in this conflict and the international community in all its wisdom strongly “condemns” the attacks. Am I the only one who’s had enough of that word? When are people going to finally realise that men like Assad are not moved by words? You’ll condemn him till kingdom come and he will not change. By the time the so-called Superpowers wakeup, Syria may not have any people left to liberate. As for journalists, I just want to remind you of something you already know. No story is worth your life. We appreciate the work you do to keep us informed but we would rather have you alive so please stay away from conflict zones and if you must go, put your life ahead of the story. Nobody will blame you because at the end of the day, 99 per cent of us are cowards waiting for you to give us the big story.To be continued...