DARE TO DREAM



Zuriel Oduwole with Mrs. Portia Miller, Prime Minister of Jamaica

I was reading a story in Linda Ikeji’s Blog some days ago (Any LIBers in the house? hehe) and I saw the story of Zuriel Oduwole, the 11 year old who has taken the world by storm by being the youngest person to have been interviewed by Forbes and for her passion to enhance education of the girl child in Africa. This girl even before her teenage years has achieved most of the things we wrote in   our essays back in primary school that we wanted to do as adults.

    She, by following a dream which was borne out of a school projects has met with and interviewed majority of the leaders in Africa and even has a computer lab in her name in Tanzania. Some of you might say ‘it’s only because her parents were rich enough to get her those opportunities, all fingers are not equal….’; but the thing is, it’s such excuses that we give ourselves as a reason not to chase our dreams. Every one of us has been blessed with a talent, some multiple talents even to shine and do awesome things but we choose to hide in corners and give ourselves excuses not to soar.

  There’s never a time to early to start chasing a goal and there’s definitely no deadline for one either. I’m sure the Lagos guys reading this know about KFC, yes that place that you took that babe and she sucked you dry; the owner of KFC  Colonel Harland Sanders was what we call ‘bad market’. He had more than ten jobs in his lifetime, most of which he was fired from for insubordination or getting into an altercation. At one point, he was even a lawyer and got into a fight with his own client! It was during one of his numerous jobs that he started making chicken for people and at the age of 65 found his true calling. Now, you can’t think of chicken without thinking of KFC.

Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of KFC

  Also, there’s never a dream to small. It’s probably in our nature as humans but we should learn not to look down on people or even judge people based on their circumstances. You never truly know the true story without being told by the person who experienced it. I also read about this young girl who got into university at fifteen, very bright; only to become pregnant at 18. Of course, the preacher in all of us would go ‘see how this girl just mumu-ed herself now.‘ Well she had the baby and dropped out of school as she couldn’t cope with motherhood and academics while so young. Her father was enraged of course but she took to selling goods and later got back into a private university to study business administration due to her experience from sales. This time, she didn’t make any mistakes; she finished as the best graduating student of her year. This is a true story o, just to let us know that the only thing that can hold you back from being awesome is actually you, not the witch climbing NEPA pole in your village, or the girl giving you bad eye in your class; Just YOU.

    So, don’t let anything or anyone stop you. If you have that talent, develop it and let the world celebrate you. Money isn’t a wall; it may be an obstacle but remember that God puts up the hardest obstacles for his toughest soldiers. The World is waiting!!!