I stand outside my shop at the close of the day, watching my neighbors make their way home. I can tell which ones are coming home from work and which ones are still searching for a job.
Parents without jobs drag their feet as they walk home. Each step takes them closer to facing their children’s disappointed faces. Each step takes them closer to another long night of lying awake and worrying about what the next day will bring—or won’t.
After weeks and months of closed doors, many people turn to drugs or alcohol to escape the sense of failure and defeat they feel. Others, in hungry desperation, turn to crime.
I start to move one of the armchairs into my shop, even as my mind lingers on the weight of responsibility that a parent feels. The faces of my own three children come to mind.
I always want to
provide for them.
Perhaps the responsibility of being a father has stirred my heart for the unemployed of Africa.
When I was living in Ghana, God called me to come to South Africa to start a furniture and upholstery business to provide employment for South Africans. I didn’t come here by mistake or because I was running from a civil war, like so many others have done.
I’m here with a clear
mission from God.
I look around at three of my employees who are hauling one of the couches into the workshop. Working with them stirs my heart even more for the people in my community. I want others to walk with purpose and dignity—for fathers to rush home to their children with a sense of pride as they carry the responsibilities that fatherhood requires.
Everything God has given me—from a creative mind to a growing business—I want to use to serve others. My dream is to employ 50 people in my community. Every time I hire a new employee, I come one step closer to realizing this dream.
And there is one less parent
walking home in defeat.
Joshua
Furniture and Upholstery
Business Owner, Cape Town
How You Can Help
Donate today! Everything gets us closer to seeing this become a reality for a growing cadre of entrepreneurs. Live in Africa? Launch Paradigm Shift in your community.
If you haven’t received your free eBook of Resilience: Portraits of a New South Africa, go here to get your copy.