Jobless youth

Why did I decide to write this piece, I mean what sort of thinking is behind such a title?

Do I not have any hope, that things, my employment status, might change even in the next minute? Well, I have the time because, obviously, I am not engaged in any job at the moment. Therefore, I decided to pen down these free-flowing thoughts going through my head, after all, writing has always been my passion.

I have always felt, like most people, that I organize my thoughts better when I write them down than when in face-to-face conversation. Besides, I don't always enjoy the sometimes unruly interruptions and interjections that come with talking face-to-face.

I am writing this piece for just anybody including fellow “unengaged” youth. It is not a pleasant experience after all. Especially for those of us who wield university degrees. You begin to softly curse your certificate as if it is the reason you are without any gainful employment. Or do you curse yourself? Perhaps you should have retaken that chemistry paper you got a marginal pass in so that you entered the medical school instead of obstinately clinging to a lofty dream of reading economics, mathematics, politics and linguistics.

Perhaps you should have entered law school. At least job security is highly assured in those fields. Forget the fact that medical school takes years, and that in this part of your developing world you could stay at home even after housemanship for two, three or even more years before the state enrolls you on its payroll.

Unless you find a private practice somewhere. The lawyers too, it is not all rosy. The music of a popular singer in Ghana keeps coming up in my head: “nowhere cool,” he says. To wit, “nowhere is rosy”. Had it been rosy, you won't hear of doctors going on strike for better conditions of service in developing countries, or doctors rushing into private practice in developed and developing countries alike.

But does all these give me a job? Of course not. As I write this piece, I have sent out about three job application emails to advertised vacancies I saw on both LinkedIn and Jobberman. I recently submitted an essay in hopes of winning an essay competition which has prize money of €2000. No job means no money to attend to daily needs or send something to my mother in the village.

How am I surviving? I am forced to live with my fiance. In a society like mine where such a practice is looked down upon, it is such a difficult decision to make on my part. But what can I do? I won't dare go to live with my mother in the village. People will mock and speak behind my back. “After all the schooling what is he doing now?” “It is a waste of money if your university education can't take care of your mother now that father is no more“. Oh, I forgot to tell you that one, father died the year I finished university, that is, a year ago.

You can imagine how I felt. “After all the money spent on him, he cannot even give a befitting burial to the one who brought him up”. “Shame! Shame!” I couldn't wait to flee from the home after the burial. Now here I am. Last two months I applied to join the police force, and I have advanced through the screening stages, written exams, and awaiting the results. I have no one to aid my progression into the police academy. We all know-how in this part of the developing world, politicians especially those belonging to the ruling party, prominent chiefs, and “big people” put their family members and favorites through by way of something called “protocol list”. As for me, I can only bank my hopes on the Queen of luck.

When it falls through, I shall call it God's “grace”. After all, when big people in my country realize the windfall on their underhand dealings and corruption they go to churches and mosques and thank God for his “grace”. Looks like God's hand can be forced by the whims and caprices of man. Should I laugh? Well, I still haven't got a job.

I should start writing letters to some companies and “beg” them for any position that they can offer me. I am getting desperate; I will do just anything to escape this unemployment labyrinth. It is beginning to make me feel worthless as a human being. Of course one of the things unemployment does to a person is that it spawns negative complexes, making you question your very existence- self-defeatist.

I got bored listening to my thoughts so, I turned on my radio. It is the voice of a pastor, preaching hell and damnation for those who refuse to give their lives to Jesus. I chuckled and changed the station. I said a silent prayer (out of fear of retribution for my irreverence). The truth is I no longer pay so much attention to my religious life. My mother is an active member of the local Presbyterian Church, and she brought me up strictly to always rever God and the church.

With no job, and a bleak future, not even the threats of eternal damnation can restore the initial Christian zeal of my childhood. In my mind, those pastors won't “give me food to eat if I ask them”. In my mind, everybody is searching for his or her sustenance including the preacher man. Oh, those preachers! They are springing up here and there in my country. Most of them are charlatans. They feed on the prevalent fears and poverty of citizens to expand their church empires.

We call them “one-man churches” or charismatic churches; indeed they deploy the political and behavioral nuances of charismatic leaders in order to woo their congregants. All church donations go into their pockets for their God-ordained appropriation. Unlike the orthodox churches and a few decentralized ones, there are no systems for management and accountability. They account to nobody.

You usually see them riding huge v8 vehicles while the poor folk in their church continue to wallow in righteous poverty. You cannot question them too. “Thou shall not touch my anointed,” they and their enablers will tell you who dare question their deeds. One funny story is told of how livid church members accosted their pastor for using church funds to buy a car for themselves when a bigger bus could have been bought for use by all church members. His reply? “when Jesus entered Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey whilst his disciples followed on foot”. He as the head pastor must be given special treatment. The matter stopped there. After all who wants to face God's wrath by questioning God's chosen one.

Oh, I just got a message on my phone, “You have not qualified for Ghana Police Service” They won't tell you what disqualified you. Are they saying all those applicants couldn't get a pass in common essay and comprehension questions? I won't talk plenty.

I am thinking of volunteering for a political party. Perhaps-just perhaps- some big man will spot me and “push” me up. This is me today. At 14 years in JSS, as a high-performing student, could I even have dreamt that I will be without a job even after my university degree? I shake my head in self-pity. Even as I say this, tears are running down my cheeks. This world! So cruel, so unforgiving. Does a God exist? Why does he sit to watch those who trust him languish in poverty? What is it worth to be righteous? Perhaps it's because no such Supreme Being exists, He/She is merely a creation of human imagination.