READER LETTER | People who lose a job deserve comfort and support from family

I have noted how many people treat their family members with disdain after they have lost their jobs. With the hard lockdown caused by Covid-19 about three years ago, and the effects of load-shedding, many breadwinners lost their jobs.

This has caused family members to look at them as outcasts due to their failure to provide for their families. Many former breadwinners have been left out in the cold because they are no longer able to put food on the table.

Recently, a woman called a radio station and said her own biological mother started sidelining her after she lost her job. She said the whole family started looking at her as someone who was becoming a burden to them due to her inability to take care of her own family.

They even questioned why she was eating food she never bought. This is gruesome treatment of a family member who has always been there for them and it flies in the face of unity and love. Losing a job is an unfortunate occurrence and one shouldn’t be made to suffer the consequences of being retrenched.

What adds salt to the wound is that all those years when the person was still providing, she was a champion but that suddenly vanished into thin air due to uninvited misfortune. This means that the family never loved her but her money. When someone loses a job, that person deserves comfort and support so she can rise again. Kicking someone when she is down is the height of selfishness.

May we all regroup and start embracing people even in their worst moments. Despising someone over a job loss cannot be justified. Let us liberate ourselves.

Malphia Honwane, eManyeleti, Mpumalnag