Chika Jonah Writes

Category: Stories

  • Dying Slowly

    Dying slowly

    Dying slowly

    Oma saw Anita coming and quickly wiped the tears from her eyes while she continued writing out the prescription drugs on a piece of paper.

    “Oma!” Anita called.

    “Yes.”

    “I just saw the doctor, he said that so far the treatment has been effective but he doesn’t understand why in recent times she has not been responding to the treatment. They have to perform another test. And…and…its going to cost seventy five thousand naira.” Anita informed sadly.

    “What? Seventy five thousand naira! How the hell am I supposed to get that much money?”, She staggered back and leaned on the wall. With hands ruffling her hair, looking at Anita with those painful eyes. “Take a look at these”, She handed over the prescription paper to Anita and as Anita read through her face changed. “Oh God!” Anita whispered.

    “Now th…i…s too.” Oma fell to the chair and sobbed uncontrollably. Anita rushed to her and wrapped her hands around her.

    “Six months Ani”, Oma spoke in between tears. “Six months of been in this dreadful hospital. Six months of dropping it all. Of trying to save her life. And now there is nothing left. We have nothing. I have nothing to give her Ani.” She cried.

    “No. No. Don’t say that baby.” A lone tear fell from Anita’s eyes as she held her friend tightly. She could feel the pain Oma went through. She had seen Oma go through hell to help her Sister who was diabetic suffering from a lung infection. She left her job to take care of her. She sold everything she had just to afford the hospital bills. Spent sleepless night catering for her and was constantly praying for her.

    Oma pushed Anita away “She should die. She should just die and end this misery.” Oma barked.

    “What? I don’t think you know what you’re saying.” Anita said, uncertain of how to respond.

    “I meant every word.” Oma replied her sternly.

    Anita raised her had and slapped Oma on the cheeks. “Are you out of your mind?” She screamed. Quickly she grabbed Oma’s shoulder and shook her vigorously, “Don’t you dare say that again. If you really meant it, then why are you still here? You should have been at home taking a nap, surfing the internet or chatting with friends. But you chose to be here. Fighting this battle. Don’t give up baby. I beg you. Please don’t give up.” She took Oma back into her arms and Oma cried on her shoulders.

    “I’m sorry. I’m just tired.” She wept uncontrollably.

    “I’m too tired” She whispered. Anita gave her a slow pat “I know. I know baby. You’ll be fine. We will all be fine.” She reassured her friend.

    They sat down there for a long time until Oma stood up “look after her Ani, I’ll go arrange the money somehow and get her the drugs. Lets prep her for this test.” Anita nooded.

    Before she left she quickly took a glance at her sister, who was sleeping softly on her bed. She couldn’t help but wonder what she was dreaming about.

    She walked towards her, leaned to her right ear and said those words she had been meaning to say, “Don’t you dare die on me sis. Fight. Fight hard and come home to me. Okay?” She stroked her cheeks warmly and left.

    Four weeks later Oma’s sister died after a prolonged seizure. She fought so hard for so long, but towards the last week, she went into a coma and didnt survive the seizure.

    There was so much pain and tears and sorrow in the room. Everyone was either wailing or sniffing. Only Oma didnt cry. She stood at a corner too shocked to do anything. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t cry. There was no more tears left to cry and nothing left to say. Only pain to feel.

    What they didn’t know was that, Oma died slowly every time she watched her sister fight her sickness in pain and agony, pieces by pieces till there was nothing left of her.

    Nothing.

    THE END

    What are your thoughts on the dying slowly story? Did you wish things ended differently for OMA? Just drop your thoughts in the comment below.

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  • My journey as a female entrepreneur in Nigeria.

    My journey as a female entrepreneur in Nigeria has been a mouthful says Aniekeme Umoren our Guest writer.

    Aniekeme Umoren(Ann) is an entrepreneur, with a degree in Accounting. After been an Auditor for a year, she is currently the team manager of Partylane Dynamic Concept.
    She entered the entrepreneurial world to explore her passion for Fashion and add beauty to human lives. Life to her means family and friends who can be trusted. She is self driven, she takes pride in providing the best products and services to customers/clients.

    Connect with her here;
    Instagram – Beautiful Ankara Fabrics
    Facebook – Beautiful Ankara Fabrics
    Email – aniekemeuby@gmail.com

    Here is what Ann says;

    Where should we start?
    I am grateful for the opportunity given to me to share my experience. Chi, thanks again.
    And to everyone reading, I hope we learn from my intriguing yet eye-opening journey as a female entrepreneur in Nigeria.

    Having an entrepreneurial vision is interesting, I would lie if I say it’s one of the smoothest Journey ever. Hmm…it isn’t.
    I stopped applying for a job when I realised that I was wasting my time doing so.
    Are you shocked to hear me say so?

    Female entrepreneur in Nigeria

    It all started immediately after my National Youth Service Corps(NYSC). I had this poor mindset that after my NYSC program I would find a white collar job.

    Well, it turned out to be the opposite.
    I kept applying for jobs in different places (banks to be precise) I love Bankers and was obsessed with the banking industry.

    Few weeks later, I was called up for interviews at different banks.
    I got rejected at the finals due to the fact that I was newly married and they believed I wouldn’t be able to perform my duty as required; such as traveling round the world, working late etc.

    Should I say… Fortunately, I gave up my dreams of working in the bank and began reading Brain Tracy’s book “CHANGE YOUR THINKING, CHANGE YOUR LIFE” that was all I needed at that point in time. I lost focus, was depressed and full of negative thoughts that my friends have all made it through life and I’m still stagnated. I needed something to get my hopes high, and all I could think of was reading a book. Thankfully, the book did help redirect my thoughts.

    I realized there was something missing in my world and that was FASHION. Fashion has always been my day one dream right from childhood, have always played with colors, pieces of clothes, drawings, threads and needle. smiles

    I had to turn my focus to Fashion. But then I had obstacles; financial obstacles hindering me from getting things done immediately. Like the saying “there’s nothing free in Freetown not to talk of Nigeria.” laighs Becoming a female entrepreneur in Nigeria wasn’t going to be easy so I had to improvise.

    Something that could actually relate to fashion. To avoid procrastination I had to start somewhere, anywhere and anyhow.
    I ordered 15pieces of Ankara fabrics and began selling them to people around me.
    Honestly, It was never an easy task. It took me a month to be able to sell out only ’15 fabrics’ laughs.

    I didn’t know how to convince people to buy them so it made it very difficult to sell out. I was terrible at marketing. An important skill that would help me successfully be a female entrepreneur in Nigeria. At some point I got scared of what my life has become. It was so frustrating and I was a little hopeless.

    After a while, I created a business account on social media( Instagram and Facebook precisely) I bought more fabrics about 15pieces, I uploaded them and waited for response like forever. No one called, no notifications, no DMs. I was frustrated. tears

    I went to my husband’s book shelf again, skimmed through the books. My eyes caught Joe Girard book “HOW TO SELL ANYTHING TO ANYBODY”. I read it repeatedly. It took me days to understand and realize that I had a lot of upgrading and trimming to do with my brand and my self.

    Who wouldn’t follow up procedures in such circumstances? I had to.
    I bought about 25pieces of ankara Fabrics, 16yards of senators, 10pieces of plain and patterns and 12yards of brocades.
    And I started selling rapidly. It didn’t take me more than 2 weeks to be able to sell them all, I restocked and kept the process going. I was so happy for a long time. You may see it as a small win but this victory alone got me motivated to do more.

    It didn’t end there. As time went by I felt I needed to revamp and rebrand my Instagram page and it was done by Chika smiles she did an excellent job. The rebranding alone brought more clients especially on Instagram. I deleted trash of pictures on my Facebook business page and focused on just my brand and what I could offer.

    Today, I can say that I receive calls from people I don’t know before, most of my clients are from social media. The irony. I can now call myself a female entrepreneur in Nigeria. I won’t say that I have blow, in fact, I am just getting started. I’m only at a place where I enjoy what I do.

    So what’s my point here? To be called an entrepreneur in Nigeria or an entrepreneur of any kind is very pleasant but the question is are you ready to face the challenges that come afterwards or are you going to listen to people’s negativity or just quit?

    It is important to have a true inner desire for your passion. And in business that’s truly what it takes at the end of the day.

    6 Tips to help you be a successful male/female entrepreneur in Nigeria

    1. Just stay focused.
    2. Test your potentials(i.e passion, self confidence etc)
    3. Read books.
    4. Avoid procrastination.
    5. Redefine your skills to match your business.
    6. Be self driven (motivate your self, no one will do it for you)

    I trust this piece has been of great value to you
    Thanks for your time and thank you for having me.

    Please leave Ann your feedbacks, questions, kind words and compliments in the comment. She’s right there waiting on you. winks

    Our last guest post by Prince James is a must read by everyone

    Kemi Ojumobi wrote an article for Business day on some of the most powerful female entrepreneurs in Nigeria and the story Its deeply motivating I must say.

  • A cup of Growth water. 2020

    Growth. I am neither a goal setter nor an over the top planner. So I had nothing to smash in 2020. If I remember vividly, the only thing I wanted to do in 2020 was save more and have fun. Finish. laughs

    Sounds funny right? Well, if you can see that as a goal then so be it.

    Growth 2020

    Yet something happened. I woke up to a call that shook my world. And shaped my 2020 into a more daring and rocky one.

    “Hello Chika.”

    “Hi. Whats up?”

    “We need to talk. Let’s talk on whatsapp.” He said worriedly. My web developer.

    “Oh. Okay.” I became worried. Wondering if everything was alright. We came online and continued chatting.

    “What’s wrong?” I asked inquisitively.

    “I was doing my rounds. And I decided to just take a quick look at your site. Only for me to realize that your Bandwidth size is full. Thank God I noticed this or else your site would have crashed.” He sighed in relief. Everything he said just sounded strange to me. The thought of loosing my blog frightened me. My blog is my baby. Plus what the hell was bandwidth?

    “Wait oh. Which one is bandwidth again?” I asked confusingly.

    “Let’s just say its what takes in your blog traffic. The bigger the traffic, the bigger the bandwidth and vice versa”, he answered as I nodded in understanding “As of now, you need to increase your bandwidth size. Your blog has been having massive traffic.” He continued.

    “Oh. That’s great.” I was happy. It was great news to me but somewhat weird since I didnt know how and why it happened. I never used to bother about checking my stats. I was happy with just doing what I loved and inspiring others in the process.

    “Chika the fact is none of the sites I’ve ever developed have this much traffic. I’m truly proud”. He said warmly.

    “Jeez. Are you serious?” At this point it had sank in. It felt so good. I felt at the top of the world, “Thank you so so much.” I said gratefully.

    “How do you do it? He asked.

    “Hmm…well, I just spend days writing valuable and relatable content. I give it my all.” I answered.

    “Well done. Now, let’s get you a bigger size so that your site is safe as your traffic increases. The price differs and…

    That conversation changed everything. I kept wondering why someone would take a glace at a silly girls world, and even go as far as reading her writings and following her journey immensely. Small Chika? It was humbling. It confirmed that i was doing something right. Something I enjoyed and loved. Something I gave my all. And if I kept giving I’d keep growing. So My 2020 became a cup of growth water. The more I gave the more I grew.

    I didnt know how to keep up. I didnt want to loose so I made effort to grow. And to grow in the most important areas I needed to learn. Areas that benefited me. That I did.

    I dished my plan to save more. I threw away everything that was like a standard. Every standard anyone or society had in place for the course of my journey and just focused on my growth. With that came more energy, more No’s, more sleepless night, more investments, more risks, and more selfishness. Yes. I was selfish. And it was needed. I wanted to focus on me and I’m glad I did.

    This growth brought moments where I cried. Moments where other peoples view about my creativity hurt me badly. Especially the ones closest to me. Moments where I felt farther away from God. Moments where I was lonely. Damn! I was lonely a lot this year. So much so that I had conversations with my brain. smiles

    I found things I didnt think I could do. Risks i didnt think i could take. The way I didnt think I could love. The passion I didnt think was burning in me for life, for people, for purpose, for God. And do you know the biggest irony to this? The more I took care of myself the more I brought others to myself. That is the power of self love. The more I loved myself, the more I loved people because loving myself means treating others with that same amount of love. I became more self aware about my self, body, and desires. I found community. A community of strangers that turned family. They made this growth possible. Calling me on my flaws, giving me the baddest reviews, driving me to tears and making me give more and more while pumping me with love.

    I lived the most fulfilling in 2020 behind closed doors. On those silent night scribbling papers, listening to teachings, making mistakes in darkness, counting my losses, and daring to do things I wouldn’t do in normal circumstances. Doing the things my heart wanted.

    I love that I’m silly. I love that I play too much, laugh too much, can be often unserious and I’m not going to change nothing about that. I adore me and adore God for making me live so freely. It didn’t happen by chance. It happened by choice. While the world may be changing themselves. I am going to take all of me, and all of you with me as we say goodbye to this year and welcome the next year with the same excitement, longing and subtle uncertainty because no matter what, we would embrace it, with its many chances, its many possibilities, its unending joy and survive. Survive we will. If my journey & my story that you have been a huge part of, doesn’t dare you to do that which seems frightening and unsettling then I believe that at least, it should inspire you to love you even in this moment, to grow without changing yourself and to share your story no matter how dark and daunting, how simple and weak and how shameful and painful it may sound.

    I’d be lying if I told you I have goals for 2021. Wrong person guys. laughs I don’t have so don’t ask me. I’m moving with the flow. As long as I keep doing this then I’m good. But be rest assured that I’m a truck load of surprises. A lot of inspiring and sumptuous surprises are going to be coming your way as always.

    While others my be counting their achievements I am rejoicing in my growth. Yet, my biggest achievement is YOU. YOU brought this growth. And I love and appreciate you so much.

    Cheers to a hugely impactful 2021.

    Anything is possible in the coming years. Read more here

    A captivating story resides here on one of my favorite blogs