HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS YOU CAN
During one of the SOWAR sessions I attended, the story of Amaka, a very beautiful woman with 3 kids whose husband lost his job during the company’s downsizing exercise was shared.
After he lost his job, they tried to manage their lives from the savings they had gathered during his employment until he found another job. Despite frantic searches, he didn’t find any until they got to the point where they had overdue bills; kids fees, rent etc. and life became tough.
Amaka, trying to support the family, reached out to some friends she knew for any Job available she could manage with her degree things didn’t turn out as expected. The male folks she knew were mostly, captivated by her ever-green beauty and just wanted sex with her if she expected any favours.
Frustrated, she talked with Timothy who advised her after counselling to use her cooking skill and 10,000 Naira left to commence Akara (Fried Bean Balls) business in a busy location he managed to secure for her.
Despite regarding the counsel as absurd considering that she was a Beauty with 2nd class upper degree, she decided to start the business because the fate of her children and their present plight economically mattered more.
Not minding what people would say, business kicked off. I was thrilled to hear that in 3 months, she engaged 3 ladies to enable them to meet the demands of customers. In 6 months, 3 more people were engaged and her husband even decided to join the train as a cashier.
2 years later, I heard their house was built, the business was doing great to the point you had to place an order if you have intentions of receiving Akara timely.
For me, the story is a great demonstration of COURAGE. I have seen many unemployed people refusing jobs or businesses they call odd like Driving taxis (Uber or Bolt), sales jobs etc because they wonder how they will be perceived by people around them. Many put a hold on their progress because they feel that being graduates entitles us to certain kinds of Jobs. They let themselves receive invitations to misery because they are not courageous about taking advantage of opportunities that could become gold mines.
I hope that many of us will learn from the story of Amaka that what we have in our hands could become the greatest asset to the life we envisage.
MAY GOD GRANT US THE COURAGE TO CHANGE THE THINGS WE CAN.
Shalom.
