Having completed my first school year at Ontario Agricultural College in 1958-59, it was time to find a summer job. I was inexperienced in job hunting and in travelling from one city to the next. It would have been difficult for me to do any physical work because my back muscles were still weak from being in a cast for eleven weeks. I did not have time to do exercise to strengthen those muscles. Percy Chen, Fred Hayles, Francis Buckmire, Francis Leonce and I, all foreign students, bought road maps, travelled to Kitchener, Galt, Hamilton and Toronto and pounded the streets. I hitchhiked a few times and made Guelph my home base. We knew that we had to vacate our rooms in Johnson Hall. Desperation and frustration were obvious and I remember counting about 100 job rejections. Many employers wanted Canadian experience for summer jobs.
We were advised that to work, we had to get a work permit from Canadian Immigration. We learnt that foreign students worked without permission and that Canadian Immigration seemed to ‘turn a blind eye’. Potential employers did not question us. Those were the good old days and we were very grateful. If we were prevented from working it would have been impossible for most of us to continue our studies. Now the law is strictly enforced. Only those foreign students with wealthy parents or those on scholarships are able to attend University in Canada. There is also a higher fee structure for foreign students.
At 4 o’clock one afternoon in May 1959, I was making my final job call in Hamilton before returning to Guelph. As I approached the business office of Frost Steel and Wire Company in Lotteridge Street, I saw a sign “Sorry, No Job Applications Accepted” and turned towards the gate. Then I heard a voice “Are you looking for a job?”. I turned around and with an air of despondency, answered. A conversation followed and the gentleman, Gerry Nipshagen promised to take me to the bus terminal. After work we continued to talk and he invited me to his home where I met his wife. I learnt that he was originally from Holland and his wife was from Ireland and that they had had a difficult time when they first arrived in Canada. They were a very nice couple. I ended up having supper with them and spending the night at their home.
On the following morning Gerry gave me a letter to take to a gentleman at the Personnel Office at Stelco. Stelco was associated with Frost Steel and Wire Company. I returned to Guelph and Gerry promised to send me a telegram if a job turned up. Within a few days I received a telegram and returned to Hamilton. I got a clerical job at Frost Steel and Wire Company in the Shipping Office. I spent the first few days with the Nipshagen family. Gerry helped me to find a room through an ad in the Hamilton Spectator. Over the phone he told the landlady that I was a summer student from British Guiana. When the details were worked out Gerry took me to the address and I was invited to join the family and the other boarders at the supper table. Some of the details are a bit hazy now but what ensued was one of my worst experiences. After supper the landlady told me that she was sorry that the room was already rented. I was shocked and angry and did not know how to respond. I tried to remain calm and went to the nearest phone booth to inform Gerry of my dilemma. He was upset and promised to pick me up. When I returned to the landlady’s home I overheard her speaking on the phone to Gerry. He was “giving her a piece of his mind”.
The remainder of my first summer was uneventful and I enjoyed working at Frost Steel and Wire Company. My room mate was Lance Morgan, a Jamaican. I fist met him a few months earlier through a friend, Tony Hall. I was lucky to see Lance on the bus as he was on his way to work. He was looking for a room mate for the summer. Lance was working on his thesis for his MA from McMaster University. He was also a lay preacher and was studying to be a Minister with the Baptist Church. We got along fine.
My second summer job was at Dominion Glass Company in Hamilton in 1960. I vividly recall my first day on the job around the machines. I was very scared of the hot molds and molten glass and the noise was frightening. It was a dirty job and my clothes were often covered with black grease. There I met John Peeres who came from the Pomeroon area of Guyana. John and I shared our experiences in Guyana and we became good friends. My landlady for that summer was Olga Andruchiw. She was very kind to Cecil Narain, a Guyanese student and me and we became friends and were considered part of Olga’s family. A few years later when I had returned to Guyana, Olga attended Cecil’s wedding there.
In the summers of 1961 and 1962 I worked with the Poultry Department at Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. At that time all the poultry except turkeys, were housed in small buildings next to Graham Hall in Gordon Street. Now all the poultry operations are located in Arkell, just south of Guelph. John Petit, another student worked at the Poultry Department in the summer of 1962. John and I were on duty for one week end when there was an accident. One of the pens was flooded and we had to do the clean-up, a messy job. John’s father, Harvey Petit, a professor in the Department, came in, by chance. He saw us working and very shortly after he put on his rubber boots and helped in the clean-up. I was very surprised to see this. It was fun to work with Art Stovel, Walter Stewart, Cletus Kupferschmidt, and the rest of the workers at Poultry Department. The foreman Lloyd Osburn was easy going and everyone enjoyed working for him. Art, Walter and I became friends. A few years later when I had returned home to Guyana, Art and Walter came to visit me. It was an interesting experience for them.
I found that those two summers gave me valuable experience with poultry. I enjoyed driving the tractor and wagon to take feed and water for the birds on the range. At that time, in late spring, birds and range houses were put out in the field next to Stone Road. Offices of The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food now occupy that land. I drove the truck around the poultry buildings even though I did not have a driver’s license. On one occasion I had a narrow escape and nearly rammed the tractor against one of the buildings. I was not so lucky when I had a screw driver caught in the pelleting mold of the feed mixing machine. I was scared and did not know the extent of the damage. Fortunately, my supervisor Dr. John Summers did not make it a big issue. I did not know the cost to replace the mold and was afraid to ask. I came in for a lot of teasing.
When I worked in Hamilton I played cricket for the Hamilton Cricket Club at Churchill Park. During the other summers I represented the University of Guelph Cricket Club and we played on the front campus. Cricket has taken me to many places in Ontario as well as Buffalo.
I was also fortunate to meet Chris Chataway (British) and Harry Jerome (Canadian), and other world class athletes, when they participated at a Canadian Coaches Clinic at University of Guelph. They stayed on campus and had their meals with us at Creelman Hall. Presentations were made by many of the top coaches from different countries. I attended one presentation by Chris Chataway. He talked about his pace-setting role in the breaking of the four minute barrier by Roger Bannister.
Summer school for Physical Education teachers was held one summer at University of Guelph. The teachers held weekly dances and many of us who lived on campus attended and enjoyed ourselves.
Many reunions, conferences and workshops were held during the summer at University of Guelph. Visitors also came in large numbers to tour the beautiful campus. Many cricket games had to be interrupted for wedding parties to take pictures in front of Johnson Hall or in front of the arch on the front campus.
There were two things which got my attention as being different from Guyana. When I worked at Poultry Department I noticed that the cars driven by the custodian, the secretary, the average worker and the professor were not different. In Guyana the average worker rode a bicycle; senior employees drove small cars and the top executives drove larger cars. Some of the latter had a chauffeur. One thing which I found difficult to do was to call my supervisor by his first name. I recall calling my foreman at Frost Steel and Wire Company Mr. Simms when the others were calling him Jack. In Guyana we were very formal; most likely this was British tradition.
My summer experiences were enjoyable and educational. I was able to meet and work with many interesting people from different countries and from all walks of life. I also had a taste of different types of work: clerical, physical, factory, shift, poultry management, feed mixing. I travelled to different parts of Canada - all over Ontario, Montreal and the Maritime provinces. Very Interesting!