Little things ………..
When you sit back, relax, ruminate and masticate old
instances, lingering thoughts, anecdotes and episodes, you will be amazed to note that not big
promotions, grand titles, fat bonus that have brought happiness in one’s life
!!! Small….. Pretty little things that were done by so thoughtful people have
brought in more joy in one’s life. Wish
to share a few ones!
In Malawi, as per local, custom & style if someone had
passed School Certificate, he had reached Mount Everest , as a few students
take education seriously and study. As a matter of policy we always used to
encourage the Human Resource department to hire boys and girls with School
Certificate to facilitate training and development as well as to develop the
organization to be forward looking.
One such person who joined during that time was Sydon
Kalimbo as smart, dynamic, agile and frail looking boy. Though he looked a bit
pony for his age his skills, his communication stood by his side in his
selection. He was allocated to snacks
section and was getting trained in our extruder machine which used to churn out
good volume of product which was always in demand and in short supply.
Everyday, my usual shop floor visit was incomplete without
spending five to ten minutes with Sydon and learning about his current
involvement as well as data he had compiled for the previous week etc. Being a bright lad he was showing great
promise and potential. I enjoyed the time spent in his section and was
motivating him for better house-keeping and all that.
One day Sydon introduced me to his younger brother who was
working in Candy section. After sometime, for a week or so I could not find him
in his section. I presumed that he might have moved to another shift. But after
some days news came that Sydon was not coming for work. On checking with his
brother, I learnt that he was indisposed.
Malawi, known for terminal cases of AIDS did not spare Sydon
and after a few weeks Sydon was gone. As per practice the company supported the
family with a coffin, funeral expenses like new clothes and food. I had slowly forgotten Sydon.
One day his brother came to meet me and handed over an
envelope addressed to my name. I asked him to sit and cut open the envelope.
There was a letter addressed by Sydon’s mother to me. In the letter she had
praised me and my family. She stated that we would be in their prayers. She had
stated that Sydon had told that he enjoyed working with me and liked the
direction given by me making him to learn new things in snacks department
especially the machine settings etc. He
was charged by my motivation as per her words.
To conclude, the letter she had mentioned that as I was nice
to her dearest son, she was sending me money to buy coke and drink. She had
also stated that she would pray for me and my family every day.
I was moved to tears
on seeing the letter which was sent to me so thoughtfully by an unknown
stranger for the simple fact that I was guiding her son in his service which I
was also enjoying very much.
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