She took the job without telling her husband. “When he found out I was working as a security guard, he was unhappy.” He did not think it was a suitable job. Not for a woman, at least. 

But there were bills piling up around their household because her husband was also unemployed. So she stayed. Each day she would come back home and face his resistance to the idea. “He really didn’t like it and he thought I’d quit but I stayed on.” Marriages survive on many things. Sometimes on stubbornness alone. 

For three years now, she has worked at Securex. She says the job is tough, but other people are doing tougher jobs. Besides, she has discovered something she had not expected: the dignity of earning. 

Her first leave meant more than a few days away from work. It meant coming home with money that could pay a bill, clear a debt, help keep the house going. They had two children. One died. Their surviving son is now ten. 

Her husband got a job eventually. But by then she already knew something he was only just learning. That a job is not always a calling. Sometimes it is simply the thing standing between your family and the dark.