A Thousand Failures Doesn’t Define Your Success…

Dad has always been so proud of us. He will always feel confident about how well he has trained us to be who we are and how disciplined we are. We are just like an example he points at when he tries to discipline other children.

One day, he was having a conversation with the son of his friend, who seemed a little unserious about his life and career. I was fortunate to overhear the conversation, and it was like the discussion was for me and not for him.

Dad: Shakiru, Shakiru, Shakiru! How many times have I called you?

Three Times sir, Shakiru responded.

So what have I been telling you about how you have been giving your dad a hard time?

Shakiru, I want your dad to be so proud of you. Your life is yours. Dad added.

(Shakiru just had his head down without response.)

I want you to understand something, to be successful in life you just have to think and live like you never had a parent. With that, you will be able to strive through the hurdles of life. Dad advised him.

Shakiru was grateful and he left.

I was in the passage listening to the conversation while I was reading in preparation for exams. So I should live my life like I never got a parent. Is Dad trying to tell me to be independent? If so, then I truly have to be less dependent.

Time flew by, I got admission into the university and I had to study a five-year course in Agriculture. I never knew my path then. All I had in mind was to be a better version of myself. I knew it wouldn't be as easy after getting to hear such words from my dad to someone else's child.

Being self-dependent made me strive through the hurdles of being a student till I graduated. Then the big question was what’s next after graduation?

It was the time I didn't have to be dependent, as a student there are times I still get support from unexpected ends at times. But this time around the difference was drastically clear. I am now being dependent on.

I have wished to become a livestock farmer since my childhood days. Getting into the university as a student of agriculture also made the journey and the vision clearer. But everything faded away when I got to the reality aspect of it.

Kickstarting was not as easy as I anticipated. I got to realize that it's a business for the financially stable ones, not for someone like me. I have big dreams and visions that to some extent scare me a lot. I feel I will never even get to accomplish them. While I am scared of starting, I am also scared of falling along the line.

I can’t depend much on anyone. All I have is myself and my faith. Sometime last year I kickstarted. I had faith that I would keep pushing through and maybe someday I will get my dream to come to reality.

When I started all I could afford was just a drum and two pipes. There was no source of water, I got about ten fish and then fetched water from a distance into the drum. At times I felt discouraged by the stress but I believed somehow there should be a way.

After a month I got paid on one of the platforms I have been working on for about three years. I wasn’t expecting much then but it came through and I was so grateful about it. Without hesitation, I immediately spent it wisely, dug a borehole, and got a water source. I felt the progress coming up.

With time the ten fish I got added up to 150 pieces. I never believed I could cater for that much. My target and dream is to become a great livestock farmer with at least a minimum of about 100,000 stocks of fish, and poultry birds.

After a year in the business, I knew it was not because of my power if not for the fact that I had faith in my hard work and consistency. Everything spiked up in price, I heard stories of people quitting farming for other things. But that wasn’t me. I will get to where I aimed and even further.

Presently I find myself rearing about 500 fishes and 10,000 fries. I felt it was all about having faith in the progress and process. The one tank I had as a starter became five with four ponds that can hold a capacity of about 40,000 fries.

When I started hatching, I had a failed record of about 15 times consecutively. I felt demotivated to keep going. But one day one of my mentors asked me to give it another trial which I did. It became my first successful record since then.

Yeah, dreams come true. I haven’t even got halfway through my ambitious journey yet. But my faith in the journey is something I believe will push and keep pushing to my destination and beyond. Hopefully, with time this write-up will serve as an appreciative testimony to my progress.