C H O O S I N G   A   J O B

   Friends of mine were learning how to cut diamonds. Refugees from Belgium brought their expertise with them. They cut raw diamonds and exported them to America. So I learnt to cut diamonds. Good diamond cutters earned huge wages. I earnt relatively well.

   In the final year of the war no one in America was interested in diamonds any more. I was made redundant and became a farmer, working on the land. I worked for the War Agricultural Committee. We were sent out to where they needed workers. My work consisted of mucking out the cow shed first thing in the morning, keeping it clean, milking the cows. I had to feed them, too, and then they went outside and I had to do the mucking out again until late afternoon. That went on for a year.

   The war ended and I went back into the diamond business. Later I had a small workshop of my own. I was given the opportunity to go to Africa to buy diamonds. I was 28 years old; we were married. The opportunity was so interesting that I went. The three months’ trial turned into seven years.
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