I was in the village (Kabba to be precise) last week for my mother’s 80th birthday, the gist is not about the birthday party but the people I met and how they are coping in this recession. By the way Kabba is a small town in Kogi state and also the headquarters of Kabba/Bunu L.G.A. I visited some interesting places like the Fulani settlement to learn how to make wara (fresh cheese), but guess what I was told I will have to pay for the lesson, interesting! this is something they would have gladly taught me for free before, but now I have to pay, hummm knowing how to make money with what you know.
I met some group of teachers who lamented the non-payment of their salaries since March 2016, what!!! that is so unfair, how could one be working and yet no salary received in this recession era? So I got curious and chatted with some of them to know how they have been coping, The response of the 2 spoke with is the interesting gist.
One of them said this and I quote “Am a level 9 step 5 teacher, my salary even when paid is less than N40,000, I have children to take care of and I cannot prostitute. Instead of lamenting and complaining all the time or blaming the government for non-payment of my salary, I started a poultry to help take care of my family. I have dogs, goats and chicken, I also have a small farm at my backyard. My dogs and goats are a good means of revenue for me, I sell eggs from my poultry and use the tomatoes, corn and vegetables from my farm to cook at home and sell some, it is not enough though but it’s better than nothing. I used to dash out my dogs’ & goats’ baby before but not anymore, I make money from them now, she ended her words with, I believe they will pay us one day”
The other lady was full of lamentations, I could say, she wrote part of the book of lamentations. She complained about everything, everybody and so on, but she did not resign and worst of all is that she is not doing anything to help herself but instead she set up pity party and living off people.
For many of us, there is a good justification for our complaining and whining, but will that solve the problem. This teacher could as well sit back and blame her governor for not paying her, (which is what many of her colleagues that I met are doing, not looking around to see what they can do to improve their lot) but rather she decided to get tough in a tough situation.
Two people in the same situation, but different attitude and reactions. The question is what do you do when things get tough, do you complain with a negative attitude or do you look for solution with a positive attitude?
The economic situation is biting hard on everybody, even the rich are complaining, but we should not forget that some are also smiling to the bank too. How you see, react and manage in difficult situation is what determines how you end up at the end of the day. Is your cup half full or half empty? the decision is yours. Look around opportunities still abound.
Jewels in the Desert 