'Sacred Heart, now you know the situation and you know what I need, so please sort it out!'

'Sacred Heart, now you know the situation and you know what I need, so please sort it out!'

Rosemary remembers having to find a new job after her contract in UCE was not renewed. She remembers appealing for help from the Sacred Heart.

Rosemary McCloskey

Trinity College Dublin

1995

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Rosemary McCloskey

Work and Employment

Life Story

Gabarone, Botswana

1990's

I got the chance to buy a semidetached house in 21 De Beer Avenue Paddonhurst, on deed of sale. This is where Romuald, Getrude and family currently reside. This was a lovely wee house with three bedrooms and large sitting room with dining area, garden front and rear, a cottage in the yard and a tidy little bathroom and toilet. It was in excellent order with carpets in all the rooms and a magnificent parquet floor in the dining end of the room. The fitted kitchen was big enough and had a good Marley floor. I fell in love with it once I saw it and knew that I had to buy it. I continued working at United College lecturing first in psychology and sociology of education and latterly in home economics. The students found it easier to understand my English when we were in small groups, rather than when I had to speak to them all in a lecture and I believe that is why I was asked to teach home economics. I used to do a lot of dress making and the other lecturers knew this and so put me forward for HE. I had made two very good friends in UCE Margaret Gwitima who has since died in a bus accident in Zimbabwe and Galina Bhebe, a Bulgarian lady married to an Ndebele man. Galina was exceptionally clever and hard working. She is currently in Liverpool but has only managed to get care work since her qualifications were not recognised in UK. How sad and what a waste when she has so much to offer! These two were a tremendous support for me and used to come to my place often. It is not always easy when one is in a strange land and it is great when one meets folk who are helpful and can give insights into the place and the shops and markets etc.Another lady whom I met when I was in the hospital (Mater Dei) was Mrs Marian Moloney. She was put in touch with me by a Mrs Langlois, who was visiting a patient beside me. She realised that I was Irish, found out that I had no one to visit me and said she would send Marian. There was the Lord at work again to look after me. Marian was a wonderful help to me on every level and became my mentor in Bulawayo. Many a good evening and meal I had in her house, with her husband Kevin, son Luke and herself. They have moved back to Limerick now and Luke works in Scotland. They left Zimbabwe with a suitcase and went to stay in my house in Belfast until I got home from Nuneaton, and went with them and all the belongings I had from the house in Nuneaton, after I sold it,- to Marian's brother's house in Howth, where it remained until they got settled into their first home in Ballybunion, and got it all transported there.I had a two year contract in UCE and when it ended it was not renewed and I was at a loss to know how I was going to manage to finish the house payments and get the boys educated. I prayed to the Sacred Heart in my own inimitable way,'Sacred Heart, now you know the situation and you know what I need, so please sort it out!'And He did!I used to take in people during the holiday periods for bed and breakfast. Often these would be Irish people who might be travelling around Zimbabwe and needed a place to stay. I got a telephone call one evening shortly after this, from a lady who was in Harare and on her way back to Botswana with her husband and baby. She wondered if I could take them. Of course I could. I was always glad of the few bob to help with fees for college etc. They duly arrived later that evening, and while the husband sat inside and watched television with Romuald I made tea while Mary warmed a bottle for the baby in the kitchen. We started talking and she said she was the APSO (Agency for Personal Service Overseas-Ireland) representative in Botswana.I told her about my predicament with the job scene. She told me not to worry at all, as she had a contact, Ma Maakwe, in Teacher Services Management in Gabarone, and she would approach her about a job for me. I explained that I had no idea where Botswana was, nor what I could do about my household in Bulawayo. There are no half measures with the Sacred Heart.Mary Kinsella was as good as her word and fairly soon a big envelope arrived with application forms for me to fill. I sent them off and was called for interview in Gabarone. Fr Colum Curran was out for a visit to me and he accompanied me to Gabarone. I got the job and was asked to go to work in Francistown. Ma Maakwe had heard my story from Mary Kinsella and tailored a job for me in Francistown Teachers' College where I taught education once again also graduating to becoming the whole home economics department.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)