Having spent seven years with his family in the UK, Louis Bismark returned to Uganda, where he had to start from scratch.
Since he had done several mediocre jobs in the UK, he learned that as long as a job sustains his family, it did not matter whether it was average or despised by others.
“At my first job, I was working as a bin man. We used to collect rubbish, and because I'm small, I collected recyclable paper and cans. So I moved from street to street collecting cans. It was a summer job, and when it wintered, I realized how tough it was because I would leave home at 5a.m in the morning and started working at 6a.m, collecting paper in the cold,” he narrated.
Loius recounted that he worked alongside two white men which gave him the optimism to continue working and a feeling of acceptance and equality.
“The biggest thing I learned on the job was the attitude. It has helped me settle back in Uganda because we were doing the same thing the kasasiro boys here do. The only difference is the UK is in the first world. After their shifts, the white guys would hop into their BMWs or Mercedes back to their families. I thought that if a white man could do that, who am I to despise something like that?”
“I realized that you cannot despise work as long as it puts food on your table, pays your bills, and it’s not illegal,” Loius added.
Louis confessed to Crystal Newman on the Groove Cafe that in the employment industry, he always stood out because he always strived to be outstanding in his job and productivity.
He explained that the spirit was derived from when he was a child, struggling to pay school fees after his senior four vacation when he was taken to the village and hawked sugarcanes in the holidays.`
“I looked for a school and studied my entire A-level without school fees because of my good performance. That was a life-changing moment for me. I told myself that wherever I go, I have to be indispensable,” he narrated.
In Uganda, Loius Bismark started his first job at Coca-cola where he worked as a warehouse clerk. By the time he left, he was a stock controller in charge of the whole warehouse, a position he earned in two years.
“Wherever I went, I made sure I took on other responsibilities. In coke, I was an Internal Auditor. I didn't receive pay for it, but I realized that If I took on that extra task, I'd become indispensable and would learn more,” he narrated.
After losing his job, he went to England to pursue a Marketing degree and studied at CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing).
He ventured into addiction counseling and worked in a Detox Unit with the Salvation Army UK helping people addicted to Heroin and Alcohol recover from their addiction problems for seven years.
He also trained as a ( National Vocational Qualifications) NVQ assessor helping people in employment get qualifications in line with their work at the Salvation Army.
Twelve years ago, he returned to Uganda, and after failing to find a hairdresser to do his Locs professionally, he ventured into locking hair hence the Loctician tag.
He is now a loctician and has spent 12 years in the business, which he does on appointment.
The Groove Cafe with Crystal Newman airs every Weekday from 4-5 pm on RX Radio.
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