Philemon the plumber

Armed with a camera, notebook and of course- an immense amount of confusion, we stood in the busy development of the Orchards extensions. Our thoughts were drowned out by the clanging of men and women hard at work. Within the buzz of construction, a this, this was our man. We anxiously approached him while reciting questions in our heads.

Seconds before anyone could utter a thing the word “Dumelang” shot out of Philemon Mia’s mouth and cut through the awkwardness that was hovering in the air.

Philemon Mia is a forty six year old plumber currently residing in the Ga-Rankuwa. He is originally from Soweto. Buckling under the economic pressure to provide for his family, the former taxi driver grew desperate and finally resorted to plumbing in order to make ends meet. 

It’s been two years since Philemon started the profession of plumbing and thoroughly enjoys his work. He has no formal training but has acquired all the skills he would require through observation and practice. Philemon has plastering experience and often lends a hand where his assistance required.

He still however, confesses the fact that the funds still aren’t enough but is grateful to be earning what he does here especially since he has no higher education or training. Philemon however, is a dedicated man and also works privately in households in order to provide for his family.

Philemon began speaking about funds and how South Africa has one of the lowest paying/wage figures in the world for uneducated people. He continued to say our country has a striking percentage of people living in poverty. Therefor it is of the utmost importance for one to have any form of income being generated in order to avoid poverty, even if the job is below your qualification, it’s a dog eat dog world and one has to survive.

“They say money makes the world go round but without hard work there is no money.”  Philemon is rather wise and willingly shared some of the things that motivate him to keep working hard even under testing circumstances.

Philemon’s motivating story along with his solid life values and work ethic not only blessed us, it motivated us to work even harder, grasp the opportunity we’ve been given with both hands and really make a solid effort at obtaining our respective degree’s. He showed us how privileged we really were and how much we actually had to start off with, not many people can say they have studied at the University of Pretoria, yet we can. Not many people can say they’ve been given a solid platform to pursue their dreams, yet once again we can. Philemon not only answered our assignment questions to the best of his abilities but he was also kind enough to pose for a few pictures most importantly he left us with many life lessons which ironically enough extended our horizon of thought and appreciation for what we were blessed with.