Jim stood on the balcony of his pent suite sipping a glass of champagne as he stared into the horizon and at the breath-taking view of New York. Not once did it ever cross his mind that he would be so far from home and this time, instead of working in the coffee plantations toiling to feed his siblings, he was attending a conference for business executives. This time he was not running errands for his harsh and merciless employers, but had been invited to be the distinguished guest speaker in the financial literacy conference.
James McLaren was born and brought up in Borden, a slum in the depths of Saputo town in Kenya. He was the first born son in a family of eight: five brothers and two sisters. The eight of them were orphaned when James was thirteen and being the eldest he had to drop out of school to fend for his poor family. He took up odd jobs from working in a car wash to being a garbage collector. There was even a time when he when he had to collect and sell empty bottles and scrap metal just to put a meal on the table. If anyone thinks they have a difficult life, they should sit back and think again. Having dropped out of school at only class five, Jim, as his friends used to call him, could not qualify for any proper jobs.
Despite all their hardships, he never lost his will to one day own a plantation. Whenever he had the chance, he would read books about agriculture and study them. As he along with the other laborers took the coffee bags for weighing in the evening, he would ask his employer, a certain Mr. Smith about his plantation. Mr. Smith was an old British farmer who had moved to Kenya years back and grew coffee for commercial purposes in the many lands he had bought. He had taken a certain liking to Jim because of the young man’s interest in agriculture and also because Jim was very good at what he did. Most of the books that Jim read were actually gifts from his employer.
One Friday afternoon as the pickers were getting ready to leave the plantation after a long day’s work, an announcement was made that Mr. Smith had passed on. Since he had no children or family to leave his properties to, he jolted down a will dividing his lands to various charities and to his most trusted employees. Being one of Smith’s favorites, Jim had about half an acre to his name. This was the best news that anyone had given Jim in his entire lifetime. He knew that this was his turning point; the time when his coin flips.
As most of the workers sold their pieces of land to cater for their more urgent needs, Jim and his best friend Marley combined efforts and worked on their lands by themselves. After a few years of cultivating coffee alongside other crops they made enough to purchase another half-acre. This went on until after countless years of struggle and hard work they were able to purchase a truck to transport farm produce for the other farmers and got paid for their services. It is during this time that the famous McLaren & Marley Company was born to become the thriving business that it is today. Truly, every cloud has its silver lining and every dog it’s day.
Works cited
Buscemi, Santi V, and Charlotte Smith. 75 Readings: An Anthology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print.
"Coming to an Awareness of Language" StudyMode.com. 03 2013. 2013. 03 2013 <http://www.studymode.com/essays/Coming-To-An-Awareness-Of-Language-1523913.html>.
