I try very hard to always look at the positives in my life and not dwell on the negatives. If you read my blog hoping to hear how miserable I am, this is the post for you, bookmark it, because you won't see another one for a long time. If you come here just for the pretty photos, I'm sorry, today is not your day.
I am told so frequently how lucky we are to live here and earn good wages. Luck had nothing at all to do with it. Coming here took a lot of risk-taking, and a huge amount of hard work and a lot of sacrifice. We gave up day-to-day contact with our loved ones, we left most of our possessions at home to come here to a very foreign way of life. I gave up a lot of freedom to live here and Bert made a huge leap of faith in his career to move here.
Yes, we came because we wanted to. Because we knew it would be a fabulous experience but it took a lot of courage to make the final move.
Yes, we live a very priviledged life here, we live in lovely accomodation, we have a great car and petrol is cheaper than water. We spend the occasional weekend in fabulous expensive hotels and lap up the luxury. We pay no tax, I have a maid. I could go on about all the huge pluses in living here, but to be fair, I would need to also list the negatives.
First and foremost would be Bert's work. Bert works long long hours. He is often at work from 7am to 10pm at night, very frequently he doesn't have time for lunch. He rarely has a two day weekend and even if he did, at least half of one of those days is spent working on the computer from home. It upsets and annoys me that people think because he is the General Manager of a company he has it easy. It is quite the opposite actually, the responsibility ends with him, he has to deal with awful situations constantly. Mostly, because he is the kind-hearted generous man he is, but also because it is his job and he takes the responsibility seriously.
So, from our privledged position, we are faced with workers who are paid a small fraction of Bert's wages and live and work in extremely difficult situations. It's hard, and I am not being facetious or sarcastic in saying that, it is hard because we believe that all people deserve to be treated humanely. We want people who we come in contact with to feel valued and safe just as we do.
I am horrified by the large number of women (and I guess men too, but I see it with women because I'm not out in the workforce) who have too much time, money and power and walk all over people in their quest for domination via the nail spa and handbag shop. I read a woman describe this situation once as people who arrive a Smith and quickly become a Smythe.
Bert recently spent an evening at a workers camp where he ate with them and sat on the floor with them and discussed religion with them. Bert has repeatedly described it as a very humbling experience. Those workers treated him beautifully because they were gracious and felt honoured to have him visit with them to learn more about their lives. We need to learn to be more like these men, who have nothing but so willingly share and think they are the most blessed people on earth.
He has also in recent weeks faced an impossibly difficult situations that have had dramatic ramifications for several people. He has agonised over these people, worked tirelessly and sought advice from many people we trust and respect their views. He has had sleepless nights and feels that he has not done enough to help them. Those of us who know and love Bert know that he has done a whole lot more than most people would, he showed them he genuinely cared.
The past two weeks I have often thought what on earth are we doing here, then I realise if we were not here, these workers' fate would be much harsher than it is now under Berts management.
