Where muscle feeds and brain starves

We shall call him Gerald although this is not his real name. He dropped out of secondary school in Form Four; not because he had no sponsor, but for the simple fact that he regards certificates as mere pieces of hard paper, symbols, so to speak.

Gerald was forced into taking the decision when he discovered that his own university trained father could barely feed their household, let alone, afford such luxuries as owning a car of his own or wearing nice suits.

Their landlord, an illiterate carpenter had at least, eight other apartment buildings in Buea, besides two other well constructed and furnished houses in the village. He had three wives and a bevy of several concubines.In fact, he had littered children all over the place, most of who had finished school.

Those of them who had opted for business had been adequately installed by their rich father. Others who opted for juicy positions in the parastatals were introduced into them, with the cash power that their dad commanded. He was arrogant, especially in circumstances when some of his supposedly well educated tenants failed to pay up their rents.He would poke fun at their big book, which couldn’t put food on the table, let alone pay his rents.

It was such arrogance and the apparent loss of faith in the Government’s ability to provide him with a job, if he eventually went through the hurdles of scholarship; it was his father’s awful plight that pushed Gerard into dropping out of school and opting for a job as a labourer at construction sites.

Against the strict advice and dissuasion of his father, Gerald would rise with the birds, head for the nearest construction site and opt for menial jobs. He did this for a few years; saved enough and headed for Dubai, having understudied an elderly friend of his that was into motor spare parts business.

Gerald is today, his own boss. He lives in posh fenced premises, and the only thing he would envy from a cabinet Minister is the out-board riders with sirens and other trappings of office.Put in another way, he is rich; very rich, thanks in most part to the the fact that he opted to employ more muscle than brain to achieve the basics of life and more. That he opted for realism. Gerald is not alone in this line of thinking.

Hundreds of young Cameroonians have, in modern times, opted to virtually kick their way into fabulous riches, rather than spend years or even decades in school, only to, in the end, be tossed around, because they could not find the bribe money into the civil service or other parastatals.

The vogue is to play football; get out to Europe and belong in the big leagues where big money and fame rules. It is no secret how much these back street boys of the yesteryears remit back home in monetary terms. The amounts are simply mouth-watering. Varsity dons hail them when they play; they listen when they talk and get struggle to get autographs from them.

This is a recognition that is hardly ever accorded to the brightest of university lecturers, who spend time and brain, imparting knowledge and theorizing. But this is not to suggest that all learning must be dropped for the simple fact that the elusive coin is hard to earn these days from mere book knowledge.

After all, many graduates today have dropped their certificates and gotten realistic; practical. Thousands of varsity graduates are found in the lowest ranks of the police force; not because they like it that way, but for the fact that they need a means, any of livelihood.Others, like Gerald do menial jobs, especially at construction sites.

Working at construction sites provides them with both the means to make a fast buck and the ability to learn a trade without much ado.Some of them end up learning on the job and becoming big contractors. It is important to note here that most of these construction works are owned by the high and mighty of society, with big cash to spend on the poor and desperate.

Consequently, construction sites are, in their own way, gradually curbing the rate of idleness, poverty and even crimes such as stealing and scamming. Some sharp kids combine working here and schooling. They pay their tuition from such sources.

According to Emmanuel Ecole, he would have long left school but for the availability of construction sites.Thanks to these sites, he has been able to support himself in school with the money he makes from working here.

Construction sites are known to have aforded a good number of skills like block-moulding, iron-bending, block-laying, tiling and roofing, to name but these. These jobs are helping a number of young people, making them less and less dependent on a rather bloated civil service for after school employment.

As Simon Mualuputit to this reporter, life after school was not at all easy, until he startedworking in a construction site, from where he saved some money which later helped him start off a lucrative business which he enjoys till date.

But not every one else thinks like Simon. Mrs. Agnes Nju, a parent, thinks that, the increasing number of construction sites tend toencourage students not to focus on their book work as they now spend most of their free time at these sites. She would want for contractors to consider the ages of those they offer employment to at construction sites, if not; the number of school dropouts may increase.

That notwithstanding, these boys who take up jobs at these sites say they enjoy their work and earn a minimum of FCFA 3,000 a day, and that it could go as high as FCFA 7,000 the strain notwithstanding.