|
When unemployment becomes stubborn anything goes
2006-01-02 08:05:05
By Joseph Michael Owino
When Ismail Asheri gets up each morning, he thinks of the gloomy day ahead of him. He is a form four leaver, jobless and penniless.
The 17 year old, who lives in Mbagala Kizuiani, Temeke District, in Dar es Salaam, has tried his luck several times but all in vain.
In one of his many attempts to get a job, Asheri came across a proprietor of a milling machine.
He was given an offer of ’miller-in-charge’ and would spend thirteen hours at the miller, attending to customers. His monthly wage was 25, 000/- and there was no day off.
Because Asheri is renting a room for 5, 000/- a month, he needed to budget the rest of his income very carefully.
So, how can he spend the 20,000/-carefully and wisely? The daily bus fare is luckily 400/- a day to and from his place of work.
He needs to eat breakfast, lunch and supper.
If he squeezes his budget, he will have to spend 1,000/- for his three- piece meal.
Impossible! His 25, 000/- won’t work out fine! He declines the offer and hops to another venture.
He tries ticket touting at Ubungo Bus terminal.
Ubungo is a very well organized terminal, awash with booking offices and clerks who are ready to serve would-be passengers at any one time.
Asheri was told by some of his friends-cum vijiwe mates that circumstances allow sometimes a tout to make a living! How?
The answer is simple. One strikes a deal with the bus owners or their representatives. The fares are known but the rates are not fixed.
If a tout can inflate the fare, any extra money is his. Asheri tries this new ’job’.
He has to be aggressive and fast moving, sometimes with a little double crossing, but to his utter dismay, the ’job’ isn’t rewarding.
For a week, he has only managed to rip off four passengers only as this is a low travelling season. Five thousand in his pocket and he isn’t sure for how long will this ’job’ of his last.
Asheri moves on. He tries to sell water in jerricans, but he encounters very awkward situations. He thinks of working as a houseboy, a cartpusher,( mkokoteni) or even venture in music.
But nothing of the choices he thinks of seems to solve his problems.
He curses the day he was born and regrets that he ever went to school. ’Won’t it be better if I were dead?
’He says to himself. ’’Why are the others whom we schooled together, enjoying themselves? Why am I not moving any step forward? Oh God! Where are you?’
Asheri is one of the thousands if not millions of unsuccessful school leavers trying to find a place to establish themselves socially and morally and thus earn a living.
Unemployment is a challenge to the government, NGOs and religious organisations.
The stability and success of their operations largely depend on how their plans can accommodate the youth. Any slight mistake, can lead to chaos.
Religions as well as government aim to serve people who have vision and direction, not youths who are prepared to do anything in order to survive.
A pastor cannot preach to a hungry and impoverished congregation.
He or she needs to convince them about what the gospel says on their next meal, children’s school fees and health and a good shelter.
A government striving for civil obedience has to reach out to its people and give them a solution to their problems.
Many of the youths are idle. An idle mind breeds evil. Why can’t we deploy our youths in the business and agricultural sectors?
Is it forbidden for religious organizations to incorporate the idle youths in their plans,” says a Roman Catholic parish worker, who prefers anonymity.
School leavers are now loiters and hooligans. While boys engage in lawlessness, including thuggery, robbery and pickpocketing, girls are lesser criminals although they also are part of gangs of drug consumers and sex workers.
Working on strategies to curb youth unemployment and restore order is one big challenge that the government cannot avoid.
In a way, a multi-sectoral approach plan can help this country solve a looming huge crisis of youth unemployment.
|
