No jobs for willing workers
YOUmagazineSA Steve, your letter about not being able to find work (YOU, 17 November) saddened and moved me. I’ve just completed an MA Soc thesis on the unemployment crisis in South Africa. Yes, others feel the way you do you and have lived without work for five years and longer, most with degrees and diplomas and many years’ experience.
Stay strong. Talk to a pro bono counsellor in your area to help you with coping skills. There has to be a resolution for hardworking, multitalented and eager-to-work men and women like you.
Your children will return to you. They’ll remember kindness by their father, not what he earned or provided. MICHELLE, SOMERSET WEST
Steve, you say in your letter that you are a 41-year-old qualified electrician and can’t find work. Why don’t you start your own business from home? Advertise in the local paper and on Gumtree. A good electrician will always get private jobs.
You haven’t lost everything. You have your health. Do what a lot of other South Africans are doing: make a plan. There are people out there who
SYouMagazine youmagazinesa aren’t as fortunate as you to have a trade. If all else fails, you have a trade that’s sought after overseas. You’re still a young man. PRISCILLA, EMAIL
SI can relate to Steve’s frustration. Last week, my husband again tried to strangle me – this time I blacked out. When I came to, he had his fist pressed so hard on my cheek that it was tender. The medication he’s on for his condition clearly isn’t working – just don’t tell him that.
I’ve been unemployed for the past six months and have sent my CV to hundreds of places but no luck – just like Steve, I’m white but a few years older. I don’t have friends and family I can stay with and my two kids from a previous marriage, of whom I have custody, go to different schools. Their father doesn’t have a job or transport and stays with his girlfriend, so no maintenance.
When a restraining order was issued against my husband, he said I couldn’t use any of his appliances and had to sleep outside. I’m beyond desperate, with no job and no other place to stay. HELPLESS, EMAIL youmagazinesa youmagazinetv The leafblower is the worst gardener’s toy ever. The noise is horrendous. Gardeners, be considerate and stop wasting petrol chasing a single leaf when it’s just as easy to bend down and pick it up. MOMO, SMS I hang my head in shame, Mr Zuma (YOU, 17 November). I was wrong to believe in change. You’re destroying everything we’ve fought for. DISILLUSIONED, SMS To the granddaughters of Jacqui Miller, Catherine and Nicole (YOU Say, 3 November): that was the “sweetest” and most original birthday card I’ve seen. Happy 81st birthday, Jacqui! ROBYN, CAPE TOWN