They perform a service we should appreciate
2006-01-12
I WAS appalled to read the letter of “Anti-plekaanwysers” given such prominence in, of all editions, the last of Paarl Post for 2005 and in the season of goodwill to all!
We live in an area which has hosted many refugees over the centuries and some proudly proclaim such ancestry. To mention but a few - French refugees from religious persecution; refugees from war-ravaged Europe and Britain; not to mention those who chose not to stay on when South West became Namibia or Rhodesia became Zimbabwe.
Political refugees from here were hosted in countries elsewhere in Africa, when they fled the apartheid regime.
Yet now we have people in this beautiful valley, who begrudge African refugees from the horrors north of our borders even the little they earn as car guards?
Who else would choose to stand for hours in the terrible heat or the driving cold rain? They all would rather be back home.
Many have lost everything, including family and suffered privations before arriving here.
Personally, I welcome the well-dressed men who, smilingly, in all weathers, signal a place for me; help load my parcels and take back the trolley and NEVER ask for remuneration.
Those guards at the Mall are superb. The little they earn thus as gratuities gives them dignity to pay for their sustenance and survival.
They perform a service many others decline.
I am sure that they would prefer to receive nothing rather than
something given with ill grace.
No one is obligated to give - only one’s conscience suggests that if roles were reversed one might appreciate the help.
Pensioner
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