Recognising unsung heroes in our midst

People often take for granted, and even ignore, what they consider small things, but these are the very things that are needed to keep society moving along smoothly, and in some cases every person would find it difficult to do without.
The teacher who goes to bed late at nights because he or she has to mark the day’s assignments and prepare the notes of lesson for the next day, would simultaneously be juggling the needs of the home and family. He or she will stand on his or her feet for hours a day in front of a classroom, imparting knowledge, and coaxing responses from students with diverse abilities and behaviours.

These moulder of impressionable minds also double as parents, counsellors and dig into their pockets to provide the supplies needed to ensure the delivery of their lessons. Theirs is a primary responsibility to prepare the nation’s human capital to be productive to self and nation, thereby realising growth and development.

Some see the vendors as menace to society yet they daily anticipate customers’ needs and wants and seek to provide that service. Many times as you walked pass the memory is jolted that they are selling something you need. Sometimes the item can be purchased at reduced price, or receive a little extra being considered a ‘regular customer,’ or honed the skill of bargaining. With the usual ‘thank you’ having made a purchase from them they are reminders that even in the rough and tumble of daily living courtesy can still find a home.

They are loud, sometimes you feel valued or violated depending on how you are approached, but in what has become a hustle to eke out a living by providing a particular service, the hire car and minibus drivers are an embedded feature of our culture. They move us from point A to B and without them commuting would be a challenge.

Noses will be turned up at the stench of garbage and the garbage collectors who are considered on the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder. Imagine a world without this essential service provider. None like to have to be around garbage or can stand its stench yet someone has to properly dispose of it and they have taken up the job. Were it not for them there would be risks posed to public health and the presence of an unsightly environment none likes.

To know the value of your mechanic is to have the car giving trouble and realise how tedious it can be to rely on another for transportation. It is only the mechanic who understands your ‘baby’ or God’s blessings’ and can fix it. As he or she gets all greasy, tinkering with the engine, trouble shooting the problem, to make that engine purr perfectly, you are free of the headache and can look all clean and dandy.

Their schedules some won’t want.  Others cannot bear to hear persons groaning in pain, nor could stand the sight of blood or would not clean up the bodily discharge of another. They are those who do these, and more, daily while smartly dressed in white. They are our nurses. They nurse the sick back to health, provide the patient and family the psychological comfort of knowing they are in capable hands, hands that do their best and all within their powers.

Then they are the men and women in uniform- military and paramilitary services- whose job it is to keep us safe, be it in fire, crime, border security, national defence and so forth. We depend on them but often times only value them when a mess up occurs. Image what it would be like were they to abandon their posts.

When life’s journey is over, the tasks of preparing earthly remains and disposing them with dignity are that of the morticians and grave diggers. The importance of these persons are often only seen at this time, yet the work they do, in addition to avoiding health hazards, aid in helping loved ones bring closure.

These are some of the nation’s unsung heroes without whom our lives will be adversely affected. These persons go about their daily business, have become fixtures and at times irritants in our lives, but we need to recognise and appreciate the invaluable and unquantifiable services they provide.

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