my typical jobless day

Yap, here we go again.........what is wrong with this blogger with jobs, interviews and job adverts? Do you know how annoying it can be when you know that you are so suited to a certain job, apply for it and you are not even shortlisted? It hurts soooooo!

Anyway, I stayed home for a full year and I know exactly what am (talking?) writing about. Well, this was a typical day...

Walk up anytime during the morning hours coz you have no where to go
Have your ka chai with half the usual spoonfuls of sugar, no bread- strictly. Bread immediately becomes a luxury, when you go jobless. Take a loaf which costs 1,000/= and you need to buy one for every two days, that's approx. 4,000/per week. 4k! Remember when you buy a loaf it is quaffed like never before.

Anyway, I walk to the local newspaper vendor's stand to glimpse through the papers searching for a job advert. In those days, there was no specific day for jobs to be advertised in the dailies, like these days;Mondays - the New Vision or Wednesdays - the Monitor, so one needed to walk up to where papers were sold and pray that you might just find what is suitable. I finally find one I think is most suitable, I call up a friend who is employed and ask them to do me a favour to photocopy the page where the job is posted.

Once am sure that I have managed to see a viable job, I continue with my stroll around the area greeting people as I go along. I try to keep abreast with the area's latest gossip, contributing information here and there. Never know, my name might just crop up during the local council elections. Ha!

Anyway, I plan to keep away from home during day time, lest all my debtors bump into me. Problems seem to crop up more often when you stay at home. That's when the water guys will find you home, Umeme 'Magallos' come to cut off the power, the compound owner will come demanding for his over due pay, and many more.

My day continues, forget lunch, its now replaced with a rolex. The first time I discovered it, I wondered why I kept spending so much money on those lunch buffets while I was working. Rolex?? Who is the creator of these filling Chapatis? Believe it or not we do have creative Ugandans with good survival skills. However, I decide to skip the rolex lunch and move on.

Hop onto boda boda to visit a jobless friend of mine. I get there, we talk about our previous jobs and where we have sent our applications so far, try to remember our working class friends, beep them so that they can call back and connect us to people we think who can connect us to jobs. We also exchange ideas on how to spend our imaginery money when we start working again.
Watch TV, and dose off on the settee, then watch more TV, watch some more TV then dash back home, on the way pass via the rolex vendor for my new found supper.

With this kind of routine I managed to make a few vital friends whom I think we should all have:
The Newspaper vendor- to allow you ample time to peruse through the papers for jobs, without actually buying them.
The boda boda guy - for those free lifts; transport, and soft loans when your back is against the wall.
The shop owner for small quantities of essentials sugar, soap, tea leaves, got on credit
A working class neighbour - to be the boda boda backup in case of a critical financial crisis.
Another working class neighbour - Financial backup, airtime, rent and all.

Otherwise, its an experience that will change your life. You will know that behind the masquerades people put on, there is a real down-to-earth life that can be enjoyed without spending much. Simple but satisfying.