He got dressed with great pride, every morning. His brown overalls, CCC, marked in yellow, on the back of his jacket. He left home at 6:30 and walked, with his head held high, to the local Clinic where he was employed as a Cleaner. A regular income for his family.
Ek onthou hoe ek elke dag die Clinic se kombuis deur oop gemaak het vir die kinders van Mountain View en die Blokke. Saam het ons gesit en eet, ʼn bakkie sop en n stukkie brood. Ek onthou hoe ek met my voete op die bank gesit het terwyl my pa die vloere gemop het.
I watched him for years, cleaning the Clinic with great pride! Mopping up floors, cleaning disgustingly dirty toilets, maintaining the grounds, etc. He understood that each job, no matter how small, had an important role to play.
Kids use to make fun of me because my dad was a Cleaner. Never mind that their own parents were unemployed!
My dad taught me about pride and humility, he taught me to work hard and stand tall when facing adversity.
He enrolled to do a computer literacy course, and after 15 years as a Cleaner, he applied for an Admin Clerk position at the “Community Health Care Facility”, previously known as the Clinic.
I remember typing his motivation letter, he only had Gr.10. The minimum requirements for the vacancy was Gr.12, but we believed that his experience, relationship with the community and understanding of the challenges faced by the system, meant that he WAS the best candidate for this position.
A few months later, he got the position. Admin Clerk! An achievement we all admire him for greatly.
Always remember, that no matter what your job, you have an important role to play!
What an inspiring post and I hope many people get to read this and realise that it doesn’t matter how insignificant they think their jobs are, they have an important role to play. We were raised by factory worker parents and I never remember going without anything even if many of our fashion items were knock offs we wore it with pride. It also provided us with so many life lessons especially that we should put our all into whatever we do in life.
I actually blame my mom’s shoe factory job for my shoe fetish and am actually writing a blog about it.
Thanks Celeste. I look forward to reading about your shoe fetish lol!
I love this post. I realised long ago that every person’s job is special, you shouldn’t look down at them especially since they are working hard at it. It’s so nice that you are honouring your dad.
What wonderful story…I have always had the utmost respect for yoyr dad…
A wonderful ambassador to everyone…
Truly miss him.
Thanks Clarence, appreciate you sharing this with me. That guitar you gave him helped shape many happy memories.
Started only now at chapter 1, 2 and 3 of “the last boy on the train” whilst listening to my husband play hymns on the banjo in the background. Absolutely beautifully well written, and also so very sad. THANK YOU Chevonne you are truelly a special writer.
Thank you! Sounds like you are having a beautiful evening with some good reads online 😉