Tuesday, March 2, 2021

The Dignity and Pain of Hard Work

Every year, thousands of people from across the country at dozens of nonprofits are helped back to wholeness, some of them through training facilitated by the CLAC Foundation. And many are gaining life-shaping, sustainable employment

Newsletters National

By Dan VanKeeken, CLAC Foundation Program Manager

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?

Mine was as a welder’s helper on a pipeline crew (small diameter) in the vast prairie desert that is the deep south of Alberta, years ago. I got very little training about the job and was supplied only with a hard hat and gloves. I had to bring my own boots.

The company was nonunion, and I didn’t receive any safety training either. It’s amazing any of us survived without serious injury.

All day long, my only job was to hand welding rods to the welder and try not to get a welding flash (unsuccessfully, unfortunately). The hours crawled by. I couldn’t wait for the next break.

The work never changed, not even a tiny bit. It was so boring I only lasted a week and went on to a much more interesting job as a labourer on a construction site in a small town, helping expand their hospital.

I lasted much longer at this job and learned many new skills there. But I couldn’t imagine being a labourer all my life.

Some people have been damaged or worn out by hard work. They’ve worked at hard jobs or general labour jobs that didn’t require much skill or many tickets, but that did require a lot of effort, sweat, and repetition.

It literally wore their bodies out. Their backs are sore, their hands scarred, and their muscles weary.

Others have been out of work for months or years, just getting by or not getting by at all, trying to get their lives back on track. They long for a job, any job, to regain their dignity, their sense of self, their ability to provide for themselves and their families.

These can be the same people. Just ask the staff at the many organizations across the country that serve the marginalized, new immigrants, and the homeless—including the many nonprofits supported by the CLAC Foundation. These nonprofits try to get them the training and jobs people need to feel good about themselves again, to provide for themselves again.

The marginalized and homeless weren’t always that way. Many of them have known hard work. They have many stories.

Some are just now turning to these nonprofits for help. They are no longer able to bend their backs and flex their knees the way they used to.

A staff person from one of the nonprofits in Canada that helps the marginalized shares stories from some of their clients, who are grateful for even the simplest training provided. For example, some are thrilled to learn the skill of forklift operating, their bodies broken down and damaged by years of hard physical labour.

The few courses they take make such a difference in their lives. They are grateful. “Somebody cares about me,” one single mom said.

The training is about more than being able to get better work. It’s about respect and dignity.

Every year, thousands of people from across the country at dozens of nonprofits are being helped back to wholeness this way. Many clients gain life-shaping, sustainable employment.

It makes a life-changing difference for so many who are hurting from years of sporadic, hard, and unskilled work; for those getting their feet back on the ground who haven’t worked for a long time; and for those new to Canada who don’t know where to turn. As one client said, “thanks from the bottom of my heart.”

I’m glad I went back to school and was able to build a career with new skills, with help from my family. But I don’t ever regret being a welder’s helper, or building bridges on the railroad, or being a carpenter or taxi driver along the way. It taught me about both the dignity and pain of hard work.

The Dignity and Pain of Hard Work

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