Follow your Dreams, They Are Valid

*Follow Your Dreams , They Are Valid* *By Venatius Tsi Fon*

At times, when people say follow your dreams , it seems like something abstract or unrealistic; until you really meet people who against all the odds, or what some people will call Grace have achieved their dreams. I am one of those who believe that hard work pays , because the bible says it. Prayer without works is dead, so we have to pray and work hard at the same time.

?I also believe in Grace, but that Grace must meet preparedness. Some people might call it luck, but if your luck comes when you are not prepared , you will be like the virgins in the bible who did not carry enough spare kerosene for their lamp.

So what makes others to achieve more than others? ,how do others really go beyond the generational poverty of their families ?. I will say it’s about chasing that dream and never giving up. Toney Elumelu of UBA bank group put it in these words, *‘Do it afraid and do it unsure but do it’*.

What ?he meant was, for our dreams to come; true we MUST act, We can’t just sleep. ?Action means progress and not just movements, some people always confuse movement for progress. Progress is moving towards the dreams you have set to achieve for yourself . Now, I will mention some key people I have encountered whose stories really taught me that dreams can really be achieved and that ?your dreams are valid.

Some years back , I walked into a bank in DRC and met a Cameroonian by chance . We then became friends, and one day he mentioned his story and I was ?speechless. I will call him Patrick,?He was born in a polygamous family and really had to fend for himself from a very young age. In primary school , he will push the truck in the Bamenda main market or would do the *‘mami I carry “* job.

If you are familiar with African markets, they are always children available to carry your shopping to your car or home depending on the distance. He will carry stuff for very long distances and get less than 20 cents(over 120FCFA) . This did not discourage him; he continued these menial jobs and finished his primary school.

In secondary school, he would still do truck pushing but had learned how to make soap and rubbing oil and would do this till he got his A levels. In between his primary school and secondary school education , his parents and the only sister who supported him died. He was left alone and knew he had to survive.

After A levels, he wrote what we call in Cameroon 'concours' and did not pass any . However because he had good grades, he went to the University of Buea. Let me mention that many times in primary and secondary school, he wanted to drop out because of the stress; but his teachers would not let him. ?They encouraged him and he finished. He read accounting at university and graduated with flying colours.

We should note that while at university, he was still selling soap and rubbing oil to pay for the fees and rents etc.?He went through a lot of ups and downs while searching for a job but finally got an entry job in a microfinance and worked his way up. ?He then jumped ship to the banks and on the day he was narrating this story , he was bank manager for the branch in Congo. After he concluded his story, I was short of words, I just said ‘let’s toast to better years ahead’.

I met a lady I will call Patricia, at a meeting with ?UN development partners. She was representing the UN agency she worked for, her accent sounded west African. I decided to say hi after the meeting, and she confirmed she was from Bamenda, Cameroon like me.

What a coincidence I said, two Cameroonians representing two different agencies. She flew back to new York where she is based and we kept in touch. ?She was very confident when she participated in the meetings, and I really liked it. I told her you need to teach me this kind of confidence. She mentioned that I don’t?need it because she thinks am already very confident. She then said, to develop the kind of confidence she has; I need to go through what she went through. I was surprised as she looked like someone who grew up in a very POSH home, what did you go through? I asked. ?

Here is her story. ?My parents she said died when I was very young, and I had to basically survive and was sent to do babysitting work for a family in Douala . This family was very rich and had a lot of money. I basically looked after all the kids who went to good schools. The mother of the house was very good to me and noticed I was very intelligent so she sent me to “evening’ school.

I would do my house chores(what you in UNICEF will call these days child labor) and would go to school in the evenings. My fees was always paid and I graduated from primary and secondary school and then she sent me to the University . At times, I was not well treated in that house?by some of the children or the dad of the house, but I knew what I wanted in life and I stayed there and finished my University studies. ?

After my studies, I was told I can move on now as the kids of the house were all grown as well. I then looked for internships in Yaoundé and started my first job as an intern. After the internship ?in the same organization, I was given a junior role. This was a local NGO in Cameroon , ?and the pay was very small but I did not mind . I rented my small room and would manage the small salary and visit this family that raised me over the weekends.

I needed experience and I got it from this organization . This then gave me the opportunity to join a UN agency in Yaoundé, where ?I worked?for some years. I then applied and got my current position in new York where I am in charge of partnerships. After she finished speaking, I did not know what to say. She said now you see; my confidence comes from within. I have to fight for everything I have, so I had to develop the confidence to be able to speak up and defend myself in any situation.

The third person I will call Roland also grew up in a village ?in the NW and would support his mum in the village in the market or in the farms after school. Some days he said he will go hungry as food was never enough. He could only afford to go to a government primary and secondary school, but because of his grades, he went to one of the best government schools in Cameroon. He then worked hard and went to the government teachers training college where he became a teacher. A few years after a lot of volunteering in NGOS, he got a scholarship to study in the UK. He then did is masters and PHD and picked his first job in the UN . After years of hard work, today ; he is a deputy regional director for his agency and always makes sure he tells his story to inspire others.

The last person, I met while discussing funding for the European investment bank. ?I will call her Anna; She grew up in a diplomatic family. Her dad was a Cameroonian diplomat , so they traveled around the world a lot . She went to good schools and did her university in Germany .Upon completion of her degree, her parents died in an accident . The parents had put the brothers (i.e. her uncles as next of Kin). These uncles took everything their parents had, and they were left with nothing.

?She fell in to depression and almost committed suicide, because she had basically lived a good life and had never suffered. She was advised to go for therapy, and after therapy she felt a bit better. She then?started ?applying for jobs, with her strong knowledge of German , she picked a role in?the German cooperation. Today she is a senior advisor for the European Investment Bank.

You may be wondering why am sharing people’s stories. I did share these because as you can read , the title of my article is to follow your dreams , they are valid. ?This title came to me this week when it was announced ?in a group I belong to, ?that ?a cleaner in an organization is about to finish their degree. He applied for ?internship in the office he is working in and has been approved. This internship is a requirement for him to finish the degree. This staff will now sit in a team of colleagues that used to see him as just the cleaner.

This and the stories of the others, I have mentioned above was ,or is only possible because these people had dreams . They knew their dreams are valid, and decided not to sleep on them, but to ACT and make them a reality.

The message to you reading this is , you may think that your life is not heading anywhere, because you are not yet having the dream job, the dream life, the dream family, the dream man, ?dream wife , ?dream car ?etc.

?However , Remember this; Your dreams are valid, so go and chase them and don’t give up. All you need to do is *‘Do it afraid and do it unsure but do it’(Tony Elumelu 2023)*.