Naivety from Unemployment: We all are victims

By Ivy Chibanda

My heart bled as I read the story of Samantha Mhlanga, who was one of the women who were abused in Kuwait.

She went through a lot, together with the other women she went with there but one cannot blame them as they had gone to seek employment and they thought they could make their lives as well as their families’ lives better after they would have settled down.

They never thought anything bad would happen and one cannot blame them for being naive, with the current economic situation in Zimbabwe, we all have become naive.

People have begun taking advantage of the current situation to con people and waste people’s time as anyone will go anywhere where there seems to be hope or promises of jobs. I recently completed my degree and despite the CVs I have dropped at different companies there hasn’t been a response as yet and all I do is hope that soon, my phone will ring for an interview, and as each day passes, the levels of depression rise.

Just last week, I thought an opportunity had come my way, when I got a message that a ‘NGO’ was recruiting and all I had to do was contact the recruiting agent.

My friend was supposed to meet this guy, but unfortunately, she couldn’t make it from Bulawayo, so she suggested I go in her place.

I contacted the guy, the day before and he asked me if we had spoken before and I told him we hadn’t but I had been referred to him by my friend. He said that was fine and he told me to get to the Anglican Cathedral at 8am and contact him as soon as I got there.

I woke up very early, the next morning, with my dad having warned me about being careful else I would be another victim of another incidence that may be similar to the Kuwait incident. I tried my best to look formal, ‘first impressions matter’, I told myself. I got to the Cathedral, a few minutes before 8 and I stood a distance from it waiting for the clock to strike 8 so that I could call the ‘recruiting agent’.

Standing there as well was another lady who then asked me if I was here for the same reason. Apparently she had received a call and was told to come to the Cathedral at 8am and the person had told her that he had got her number from someone.

She thought it was her niece who had given the guy her number as the niece had promised her she would organize a job for her. I had some hope then, and seeing a number of people gathered , I thought we were all going to get jobs.

A few minutes later, a certain guy approached us and advised us to enter the Cathedral hall for the workshop and we confidently refused telling him we were waiting for someone whom we were to meet at the Cathedral. He said he knew that and we were at the right place therefore we were to enter the Cathedral Hall and wait for the program to start.

I was disappointed when I realized we had been used to fill the Cathedral hall so that this company would give an impression to the foreign investors that they were marketing the products very well. It had something to do with network marketing and for us to join we had to pay $20 then buy products worth $250 at least for us to later win cars, holidays and all after recruiting other people.

Surely where will I get $270 capital in this current environment and who can afford to buy luxury goods when most of us are unemployed and nowadays parting with a dollar for airtime seems to be a luxury.

The number of people that were there that thought had found jobs was huge. Some didn’t even have seats, they stood for  over three hours, waiting for the moment were they would write their names down for employment or where they had to leave their CVs.

The organizers of the event had achieved their goal, they had given the impression to the foreign investors that they had managed to attract a number of people although it was at the cost of the desperate, unemployed people.

It’s sad how people are taking advantage of the current situation and using people in all sort of ways. The situation is really bad and people will do anything to get jobs. It is quite unfair and I would say I will never go when I hear that sort of recruitment thing but what if next time it’s actually a company seeking employees.

Does the government see how much we are suffering in search of jobs or it’s something that they brush off since they are fortunate enough not to be in the proletariat. Makes me wonder, for how long will we suffer?

You can visit Ivy Chibanda’s blog Ms.Resolute