Yesterday, I was the first guest at an event. I was that early out of necessity; to avoid the harm of driving in the rain. Once the rain abated about an hour later, other guests began trickling in until the MC took to the stage.
It was the 20th anniversary of Family Health Care Initiative (FAHCI), my mentor NGO. After the introduction, bearing in mind the tardiness that the rains occasioned, the MC invited the MD for her presentation. She began by telling how it all began in the year 2002. She was a public Nurse Officer with the government that saw her working in the interiors, way back in Plateau State, Nigeria and later in Lafia and its environs at the advent of creation of Nasarawa state.
These duties brought her face to face with the challenges that women face, especially in the area of antenatal, where some husbands, out of ignorance and illiteracy would counter such move; exposing these women to risk of maternal and infant mortality. It was out of the need to help these women that madam FAHCI (as we fondly call her) set up the NGO. Indeed, it has improved the lives of thousands over the years. She further told how some naysayers tried to talk her out of her passion but she stood her ground, and today she feels fulfilled in threading the path of humanitarian work.
Many people find it difficult understanding what their purpose in life is. For madam FAHCI, she was touched by the suffering of local women with high propensity to early grave. If you call it passion you are right. Passion is indeed a revealer of purpose.
Another revealer of purpose is gift/talent. It was said that “if Pele, the football icon were not a man he would have been a football.” This statement attests to how talented he was in football. Panam Percy Paul also falls into this category; he was born singing. According to his testimony, his mother told him that unlike the norm of crying at birth, he was born humming. At age 5 his father heard him singing in the house and said, “You sing like Percy Sledge” one of his father’s favourite musicians, therefore named him “Percy”, a name that Panam had since taken after his baptism in the 70s. He also had a knack for music. Growing up; at age 4, his father a Major in the military at the time returned from Congo with a chord audio. No sooner had he received it than he skillfully maneuvered it; self-taught. By the time he was 8 in 1964 he was already singing in the club and playing music with the big boys at the time.
Natural wiring/biological make-up is also revealer. This includes brain power, height, physique; the list is quite longer. In Nigeria, there is a popular statement; the child of a professor can’t be a dullard. It means that the child of a professor will likely end as one of the stars in life. A case in point here is that of late Kobi Bryan. His father was a professional basketball player who spent most part of his life playing in Japan. The name Kobi is a type of a tea in Japan.
Perhaps his father wanted something that would always remind him of his stint in Japan. The fact that most basketball players are tall validates this point. Surely, a tall individual has an edge over others in such parlance. Height is their natural strength.
Experience is another pointer. Often, it is awful experience. Some people own orphanages today because perhaps they grew up as orphans. Some people put it this way; your mess is your message. These four points are not exhaustible. As you search deeper inwards, you will find answers that are good enough to put you on track.
