Everything am Not...

I completed campus in April full of enthusiasm and expectation. Despite all the Hakuna Kazi chithat all over, nobody bothers to believe it. I never believed it too. There is this manufacturing plant on the way to where I stay that has a big poster at the gate saying there are no job openings. It is again translated in Swahili just to clarify. I always smirk when I pass there and see it. I get it damn it! After three months of applying, waiting, applying, waiting and more waiting with no replies, I have come to acknowledge that getting a job depends on factors kilometers away from the classroom affairs.

There exists a cycle similar to that of poverty that exists in the job market. If your relative is a manager somewhere, you can be assured of a job in that area. Later you will replicate it by giving a through pass to his/her son or some other relative. It goes on and on. Such families will stay employed forever. If your extended family does not have managers, you will always be at the sidelines, possibly a clerical job in a mhindi shop. No possibility of growth. No possibility of creating a job opening for your people. Everybody in that family starts from square one. It goes on and on. If you are in the second category trust me you will need more than papers to pierce the corporate veil.

My friend Funk calls it luck. According to him people are born lucky and unlucky. I kinda agree with him. You can blame your ancestors, your ancestors’ gods, the sun or even the church service you skipped but if you are not lucky, then you better develop a thick skin or just walk with a shield. Not a day will pass without nature reminding you of what you are. It’s like you are a slave. The master will swing a whip at you any time just to remind you who is in control. Lucky chaps bring the impression that they can sit down, close their eyes and summon the rains successfully. You know. Their lives are well documented like ours but, the road used doesn’t have traffic jams, pot holes or dead bodies waiting to be run over. They reach their destinations on time and safely. They have like 4 chicks with a crush on them at any given time. You as mr.not-so-lucky will have not even a fraction of these. The road your car of life uses is completely converse. Sometimes the car even runs out of fuel, and you think of quitting the journey.

Everybody knows which group he/she is in. they say you cannot change where you are from but you can change your future. That should give the unfortunate lot, like me, something to sleep on. Something got to start from somewhere however big it will be. It is just a matter of getting the facts right. And hoping lady luck smiles at you, just for this one time.

Boom box playlist:

Everything I Am – Kanye West.