The Face of Unemployment

 

"Hi, My name is Christine and am unemployed"

"Hi Christine"

If there were safe spaces for unemployed people where they meet up to talk I bet that's how it would sound. Like how rehabilitation centers and all start off their conversations. You get me?

Anyway, before we proceed, this post isn't a rant, not meant to offend anyone, and it's just an experience being shared, besides that's the basis of this blog. This life.

So 2015 I graduated with my undergraduate degree, colorful day that was actually one of my life best moments. I still cherish that day. Well, as it goes the job hunt began. I was doing my internship by then but you know still actively applying. It wasn't the easiest, interviews here and there but nothing turned up. Fast forward, its 2019 and here we are.

Get your degree first they said, a job will automatically come. Life after campus is great they said, no too much hustle. It turns out campus days are some of your fun days. Someone once asked me, why do you want to get a job so bad? Cause am broke I guess? Why else would someone want a job? But my reply was cause I got dreams and ambitions that for me to get there I need experience. You can't just wake up and decide to be the president, you need some sort of foundation right?

Okay, so after my internship I had so much push to get a job. I was determined and motivated. Then by the end of it I realized that nothing was working out. The one person I was counting on, my dad cause of his connections and all, also was bearing no fruits. Reality kicked in. Am screwed.

This is the life of an unemployed youth. Walk with me.

You see everyday you wake up, check your email, read through your mails of regret and then loose hope kidogo but then there's Instagram. You open Instagram and karismemes and seth gor pop up on your timeline. They make you laugh alafu console yourself that life aint that bad after all. Your Bible app pops a message on the notification bar reminding you that God is always there at your weakest. You remember you haven't prayed, so you talk to God for awhile.

You always up by 7am but open the curtains at 9, cause honestly what are you waking up to? You pull yourself out of bed, get to kitchen, put tea on the fire meanwhile doing house chores. You are the jobless one so automatically that's your job now. But who is complaining? Not this girl. There are those days the house is left to you and you decide to have those mini concerts, blasting music and dancing like the world is yours. Epic moments. 

After you done, take your breakfast peeping through Afrocinema kiasi and other channels. Nothing interesting. So, you go back to your computer, restore your sessions then that tab about your thesis is there staring. And then it hits you, you are still enrolled as a Masters student at some uni.

Why did you go back to school? You had too much time in your hands, so why not? But the real reason you went back was cause you were fed up of being asked by people all the time "So what are you upto nowadays?" Atleast if they now ask, you have something tangible to say instead of "nothing much" You try and work on your thesis but thats not it.

So you get to Twitter and go on the search bar. Your most recent search is #IkoKaziKe. You click on that to get some jobs to apply for. Only for you to get there and you hit with "Hi KOT my name is ......plz retweet my employer might be on your TL" You scroll and its the same posts. You loose hope completely cause now how can all these people be jobless just like you?

Whats left to do? You open your movie sites and keep on watching series. In between you get some food, shower atleast, and keep on watching. Nightfall is here, meet your parents at the dinner table, eat your food, clear the table and head straight to bed. On the verge of loosing yourself, you get new hobbies like cycling, reading novels, baking and volunteering. Just to keep you sane. Life goes on.

To an average person who is in the office, who just got their job the other day, you are "lazy". They brand you that with their heads up in the air not really knowing what you have been through. Like the number of times you have applied for jobs, the number of trips you have made to offices, the number of times you have had interviews, the times you go to a certain office in the morning to speak to someone only for you to stay there the whole day to end up with nothing.

The calls you've made to so and so telling you to send cvs just for them to disappear on you, the times you were almost getting the job but someone somewhere decided that its better off for their cousin's kid or niece so your name is replaced. What about the times those greedy men offered you a job but only if you gave in to their sexual requests? No wait, some are willing to give you an interview if you gave in. Just an interview??? Then if you put them off you are hit with the "you young people of nowadays just want everything on a silver platter" or "other girls are doing it, nothing comes easy"

A friend once told me that as a woman you can get any job you want. I mean you have the "key" to it. Just do it once and get the job. I looked at him, speechless. Then you curse yourself for even thinking of the idea. As an unemployed youth, you will always have those people who will hit you with the "you not being aggressive enough" "just apply to anything" "go out there and beg for it" alafu there are those ones of "start a business, make your own job" "start with anything, you don't need capital" Lol yeah right. One time I saw a discussion on Twitter about men opting not to marry an unemployed woman, and I was like can it not get any worse?

Good thing you have a support system like your mum, who is always reminding you that something will eventually work out. Until one day she snaps and she is fed up that you not getting a job. It is now your fault. She reminds you how everyday she is on her knees for you. Like she is indirectly telling you her knees are scaring because you have refused to get a job. When it gets to that point, everything just falls apart. So now what? You curse the universe, you ask God lotsa questions, you cry your eyes out in bitterness, just cause you are jobless.

Its like being jobless comes with so many negatives. First, you loose some friends cause you can't maintain those friendships. Friendships are costly nowadays. You can't attend every social gathering. You also that friend that the rest feel like you don't make the cut. Then there is also those family gatherings, that even if not financial, you already have a tag to your name. Its like being jobless means you have to be miserable. You are not allowed to be happy. Everyone expects you to be suffering, and just miserable.

We get it. That a job isn't the only way out. The sad part is while most of us are trying to get in, some in those jobs are opting out. You hear someone quiting and you like, if only I could get that choice. We hear of stories of suicide every now and then cause of depression and we think this issue of being jobless is a joke. People are out here waking up everyday with no zeal towards life. Millennials are zombies pretending to be "living their best life"

But hey, at the end of the day, each is fighting their own battles. I just hope that whatever it is you are fighting through won't weigh you down. At some point I would tell you to quit, I know I have couple of times but as the optimistic lady I am, I will tell you to keep pushing. I mean even the Bible says there is a time for everything, right? You will also need alot of patience and faith. Lots of it. Patience not to loose yourself and faith to be sure something will work out. To the rest who have kind of figured it out, just be kind. 

Am Christine, unemployed youth. I have done part time jobs here and there (some disappeared with my money), I have tried businesses twice, I volunteer, I do academic writing at times, and once in a while I wake up and decide to publish something here, like this post. Anyways, am actively seeking for a job, I have a B.A in Social Sciences and am almost done with my Masters in International Relations. I also have professional experience btw, skills in research and report writing, customer service, data entry, article writing, computer skills, great communication skills etc check out my Linked In profile for more https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-ogode-374834b8

So, if you or if you know someone who might know someone who could possibly hook me up with a job or internship, kindly reach out. Thank you!

God Bless
xxxx