Dear Christine, As I write this letter to you, I’m in tears. It is so bad with me, that I feel very numb.
Christine, the problem is that my daughter, her three children and myself need help. We live together and have to pay rent along with other bills, and ours are so high that the water and electricity will soon get cut off.
Christine, I need a job to help myself. It can be cleaning, washing, cooking, ironing or looking after an elderly person.
Please help me find something because my spirit is breaking and I just don’t know what to do.
– HELP
Dear HELP,
The desperation of your plea screams off the page of this letter.
I feel your pain. I know what it is like having only a few cents in my pocket and bills to pay. It is an overwhelming feeling – what you termed numb.
With the price of everything on the rise, it can’t be easy for you and all those unemployed single women, the elderly on fixed pensions and the unemployed to meet your day-to-day expenses.
My heart goes out to all of you.
I can promise you that I will try my best to find a job for you.
As you are aware, there are not many jobs on offer these days especially in the areas you have identified, but hopefully I will be able to source something for you, even if it is on a temporary basis.
You did not say if you were on welfare or if the children are supported by their father(s).
If the answer to each is no, then you need to start this process in earnest. And please don’t see this as begging.
Government has put these mechanisms in place to assist those who, from time to time, may be going through tough times.
So I urge you to go into the Welfare Department and apply today.
If the children are not getting child support, I urge you to get your daughter to seek her rights by putting their father(s) in court for maintenance.
I will be visiting you in due course to assess your condition for further assistance.
– Christine
