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A Gift from Zimbabwe
I recently wrote a long post with some thoughts about Zimbabwe. Some people wondered why I am so interested about Zimbabwe. Well there are several reasons - a general one, a professional one and now a personal one.
The "general" reason is that I live in Johannesburg which is just a couple of hundred kilometers away from the South African - Zimbabwean border. The situation in Zimbabwe is very desperate. I already explained it in the previous post. So most of the people who flee the country every day are choosing South Africa as their destination. The situation on the border is very complicated and also the situation with the illegal Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa is very similar to that of the illegal Mexican immigrants to USA. They are exploited by their new employers, they are underpaid and live in terrible conditions without a way out. Some people call this a new form of slavery by blacks on blacks in a country which is still trying to bring itself together in reconciliation after the Apartheid.
I see this every day around me here in Johannesburg because this city is the natural attracting point for these immigrants. They come in thousands here every day searching for job - any kind of job, for any kind of payment. Some of them have come here and do not intend to ever go back (not that they can). Others only want to earn some money and send it home to their families who are living in disastrous conditions. And here comes my "professional" reason. I work as a social worker in an employment consulting agency associated with my University of Witwatersrand. My job generally is to meet young people and find out which work they are best at and which is the most suitable job for them. Sometimes I prescribe some kind of qualification course for them if necessary, in other cases I consult some employers who are searching for this-and-that kind of workers. It is a very delicate job and requires a lot of understanding of human behavior and deep knowledge of social realities. I have graduated from Witwatersrand in Social Science. Initially, most of the people I used to consult were fresh graduates from the local universities in Gauteng and Pretoria. Now, many of the people who have come to me recently are Zimbabweans who have moved to South Africa seaching for jobs. They tell me stories about Zimbabwe that are very sad and desparate... so I have grown more determined to do everything in my abilities to help them.
And now the "personal" reason why I am so involved with Zimbabwe. My girlfriend Karen (half Malay) is now finishing her studies in Social Science too. She has an elder sister Mary who works in Pretoria as a secretary at the Ministry of Education. Some years ago she used to visit Zimbabwe very often under some education exchange programs and she met her current husband there and they married 11 years ago. They have two children. And now they have decided to adopt a Zimbabwean child... A little 2-year old girl. It happened after her Zimbabwean mother who used to work as a cook at Mary's office while she was in Zimbabwe, moved to South Africa and worked at their home as a chambermaid for some time. But it turned out she had cancer and last month she died :-( She left her 2-year old daughter a complete orphan... And now Karen's sister and her husband have started an adoption procedure for the little Chipo (her name means Gift).
I hope that everything will go allright and after some time they will be a happy family of five!
The "general" reason is that I live in Johannesburg which is just a couple of hundred kilometers away from the South African - Zimbabwean border. The situation in Zimbabwe is very desperate. I already explained it in the previous post. So most of the people who flee the country every day are choosing South Africa as their destination. The situation on the border is very complicated and also the situation with the illegal Zimbabwean refugees in South Africa is very similar to that of the illegal Mexican immigrants to USA. They are exploited by their new employers, they are underpaid and live in terrible conditions without a way out. Some people call this a new form of slavery by blacks on blacks in a country which is still trying to bring itself together in reconciliation after the Apartheid.
I see this every day around me here in Johannesburg because this city is the natural attracting point for these immigrants. They come in thousands here every day searching for job - any kind of job, for any kind of payment. Some of them have come here and do not intend to ever go back (not that they can). Others only want to earn some money and send it home to their families who are living in disastrous conditions. And here comes my "professional" reason. I work as a social worker in an employment consulting agency associated with my University of Witwatersrand. My job generally is to meet young people and find out which work they are best at and which is the most suitable job for them. Sometimes I prescribe some kind of qualification course for them if necessary, in other cases I consult some employers who are searching for this-and-that kind of workers. It is a very delicate job and requires a lot of understanding of human behavior and deep knowledge of social realities. I have graduated from Witwatersrand in Social Science. Initially, most of the people I used to consult were fresh graduates from the local universities in Gauteng and Pretoria. Now, many of the people who have come to me recently are Zimbabweans who have moved to South Africa seaching for jobs. They tell me stories about Zimbabwe that are very sad and desparate... so I have grown more determined to do everything in my abilities to help them.
And now the "personal" reason why I am so involved with Zimbabwe. My girlfriend Karen (half Malay) is now finishing her studies in Social Science too. She has an elder sister Mary who works in Pretoria as a secretary at the Ministry of Education. Some years ago she used to visit Zimbabwe very often under some education exchange programs and she met her current husband there and they married 11 years ago. They have two children. And now they have decided to adopt a Zimbabwean child... A little 2-year old girl. It happened after her Zimbabwean mother who used to work as a cook at Mary's office while she was in Zimbabwe, moved to South Africa and worked at their home as a chambermaid for some time. But it turned out she had cancer and last month she died :-( She left her 2-year old daughter a complete orphan... And now Karen's sister and her husband have started an adoption procedure for the little Chipo (her name means Gift).
I hope that everything will go allright and after some time they will be a happy family of five!