Tuesday 6 November 2012

Don't stay in there


He is my good friend, old enough to be my dad; I simply call him Baba because he has since become my second daddy. His story inspires me all the time. He was a merchant, well known and reputable in his station; he had 3 big shops in the town where he was selling bags of rice, sugar, flour and salt. He had enough resources to live large, had enough to cater for his big family of 15 (yes 15) and some extra to give people like me, his adopted daughter. He was the live of the home, down to earth, playful and truthful, he was popular, you could get credit facilities on his name and I am not exaggerating.

Then things took some bad turns, commodities weren't as profitable as they were and Baba already had a large family that needed to be catered for and his bills were growing by the day, gradually one after the other he closed all the stores and yet the bills weren't disappearing or diminishing.

Guess what he did after he had done all he could and things weren't better, my big, popular, celebrated, societal daddy started selling sachet water (pure water), he dug a bore hole in his house, turned his big garage into a factory and started the business. He hired 2 experienced hands to run the factory and got his younger kids to work there after school and the older ones to drive the delivery fan. It was indeed a trying time, but he would tell me, "it will pass"!

He lost all that tummy fat without exercises, and when you tell him, "Baba, you are losing weight, he would say, my dear, I feel lighter and I sleep better", he would make a joke out of his situation and make you see the brighter side of life. Baba kept going on, then he started rental services and business was picking up, you buy bags of water from him for your party, you also rent his chairs and cooking utensils. This story is in the past now, this man drives a Prado now, he has other businesses beside the ones I have shared, life is again like it used to be if not better.

Have I mentioned that Baba doesn't have a University degree? He had no inspiring words from any formal life coach, he took it upon himself to lead his life, not staying in the ruts but moving on.

"Are you going through hard times now? Do me a favour, will ya? square up your shoulders, chin up, open your eyes, smile and keep walking"- @DupeKilla, great words right? They sank into me!

Life throws so many stuffs at us and sometimes we are tempted to stop in our tracks, don't stop, keep walking, as long as you are headed in the right direction.

Life situations scream at us every day, remember that fig tree Jesus thought should have fruit but didn't? Jesus spoke back to that fig tree; you don't close your mouth at your situation, when life says you are hopeless, raise your voice above that situation and tell yourself with a loud voice, there is hope for you.

I don't have all that I desire of life now but I'm encouraged to say to myself, “keep walking girl, there is hope for you”.

I still wait for tricycles at the bus-stop but I smile a lot because there is hope for me.

I have dreams yet unfulfilled, I have aspirations but I have a God to look up to, and I assure myself He is on my team.

You may need to get a skill to improve on your life, you may need to get an education (formal or informal), these are part of the walking process. Just keep walking, don't stop here, life is a journey, not a destination.

You may need to start a business seemingly smaller than you, or pick a job your friends would not, you only have yourself to answer to (or maybe some small mouths you need to feed and I tell you, these ones don't care about the JD), forget what people would think, lead your life.

It doesn't matter where you start from, our lives have different stories and each has its own peculiarity, there is no perfect model and our journey differs, you just keep walking!

Support yourself with people who would encourage your attempts at success and encourage you to go on. Society only celebrates men who make efforts after they have success stories, but you need to make efforts.

Don’t stay in there in that situation, keep walking. Walk with me, I’m still walking!