Paul Masaga is an unemployed homeless man living in Harare. He moved to the city two years ago after receiving a Junior Certificate (JC) in the hopes of becoming a clerk. Yet he quickly realized that there were only so many white-collar jobs for JC recipients, leaving Paul and countless others unable to find work they believe is worthy of their paid educations. Paul reflects, “Education [...] it awes us as did the bicycle, the motorcar and the aeroplane. It is a Western thing and we throw away brother and sister for it but when it fails we are lost” (108).

Paul swallows his pride and accepts an interview for a manual labor position at a tobacco-grading shed. He obtains the position, and his European interviewer gives him a letter to bring to the supervisor, Mr. Thomson. Yet when Paul arrives at work the following Monday, Mr. Thomson tells him to go home because he has no experience grading tobacco. Paul brings up his JC, and Mr. Thomson says, “I said I want someone who knows tobacco-grading work. I should have said I wanted a JC if I had wanted that” (111).

Defeated, Paul tracks down the European interviewer, who apologizes and hands him a 10-shilling note for his trouble.