FAITH IT TILL YOU MAKE IT
My name is Faith, I was birthed that name because I was born by faith in God, my mother survived by faith during my birth but I lost my father in that process to fate. Growing up as a child, I was already imposed with the responsibility of fending for myself as well as my family such as hawking bottle water in the daily dreadful traffic with impatient road users alongside my mother so as to keep up with the school fees of my younger ones. Selling all our goods for the day was mandatory if we desired to eat a complete square meal. A broken old fashioned sofa, rusted ceiling fan as well as a torn mattress was all we had in our scanty one bed room. Its rent was due coupled with the everyday embarrassment rained on us by the landlady, still I always slept on the floor for the comfort of my younger ones as well as my mum.
One fascinating thing that every customer that patronized me in the traffic loved was the singing skills I employed while I sold my goods. My love for music has always been an instrument of joy and strength for my family as we journeyed through our hard times, hoping one day God will pick up our calls of prayers. The road I trod in the terms of academics where crooked in the sense that I had applied for scholarships to several higher institutions yet I was not considered despite my outstanding result in my SSCE exams. I decided to secretly sing at night shows in order to register for the next admission processes with the token I received, mom had already given up on my chances of going to the university.
A countless number of times I would hide myself in the dark shedding secrets tears which would parch my facial features because of worries of our stressful lifestyle as we slept often on hungry stomachs not knowing what tomorrow held. It got to a point where my mom was seriously fed up with the whole situation, and like someone who had starved for days drunk on liquor, she asked me to sleep around to make ends meet. In disgust, I walked out of her sight saying NO! This issue kept on bringing quarrels in the house that got me drowned in the thoughts of compromising, putting me on the edge of giving up until the words from a book I had read sprouted up in my mind: “Faith in God is your only hope, your present situation should not blindfold your glorious future, opinion of people should matter less, keep training because even in the darkest hour there are always rays of hope from the moonlight, the fear of not believing in yourself will always be a misplaced opportunity that will forever be exchanged with regrets except you have faith. Faith it till you make it!
My spirit was highly lifted from that encounter, I started devoting my time to training myself vocally, gave myself a stage name ‘Faith sings’, practiced even while hawking on the road. When mom began to scream out in frustration, I would go quiet. I announced myself as a professional singer and that got me more gigs as well as money. In the cool of the evening, singing unconsciously as I hawked bottle water in traffic as usual. I was soaked with passion for the song, all of a sudden a woman called out to me from her car… she offered me her card after certain interrogations then zoomed off. I didn’t bother checking what it was until I got home to discover she is a prominent songwriter and producer. She later trained me as well as signed me to her record label with a fully funded scholarship.
Life is a race with constant road blocks, the more you believe you can continue this race the more you will scale through these obstacles and finish the winner that you are. Faith it till you make it. Remember to Stay Safe, Simple and Live Smart.