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Dr Nick Ohizu-The Voice of God
Today, we start with the questions: How did my brother and I get to win the battle against poverty? How did we get to keep the promise we made to each other?
The answers lie in the understanding of my parents’ situation. My parents were teachers. My mother retired a headmistress grade One and my dad retired a principal. Both are late now but their legacy lives on. Most teachers in Africa earn too little for the job they do.
My parents were not exempted. I had no idea what they earned at the time of last week’s story, but it was later in life that I got to learn that their joint salaries were about $400. Now this amount of money was meant to sustain a family of 10 with four of us in the University.
Life was literally unbearable for us as children, but we still expected our parents to supply everything that other parents provided their kids.
However, when we realised that our parents were not in the position of always supplying what we needed, we embarked on supplying them ourselves. At the time of these events, my elder brother was 17, I was 14 and my younger brother was 12.
We began to work as assistants on building sites around our area, we mixed sand and cement for builders and carried blocks. We began to earn a little from these odd jobs.
During holidays, while other kids went to play or stayed home to sleep, we would go for day hire on people’s farms just to earn a living. I remember one time as Christmas was approaching, we asked for Christmas clothes which we had never gotten, and my mother vehemently said ‘no’. We decided to find the money ourselves.
Luckily, as we were coming back from fetching firewood, we saw a truck load of cement parked at the Anglican church near our house. We asked the priest why it was not offloaded, the priest told us that they could not agree with the off loaders at the high price they demanded, and they left.
We offered to offload the truck at a lower price just to get money for Christmas clothes. Imagine three children of 17, 14 and 12 offloading 300 bags of cement? We recruited one of our cousins and four of us did the job and within one hour, we were done. I remember feeling like my head was sinking into my neck for three days. My dad finally found out and almost killed the priest; if not for the fear of God, I bet he would have.
When my father passed on in 2005. I had the opportunity to see my Form Master again. He was part of the group that had come standing for the Teachers’ Association of my town, after my welcome speech to them, he called me by the side to find out if it was me. I confirmed my identity to him and said, “thank you for NOT letting me enter that bus”. If he had, I would be what I am today.
There are people in your past that you need to go back to and appreciate. Not for the good they did, but for the many times they said no to you. The “no” of my mum and my Form Master gave birth to the determination in me to succeed. Some of the people God will send into your life will come with love others with wickedness. Rest in the fact that God will use them to fulfil His purpose.
As for parents, please note that God never designed life for you to raise your kids alone. Some people will be sent into their lives to correct your mistakes or enhance your lessons. Let the good Lord take over and finish. Some of the things we think are deficiencies, are master keys of success disguised as pain and suffering. It is only time that will prove their purpose.
Do not hide your income from your children because your children might not understand the sacrifices you make for certain provisions.
My mum failed to give me $2 not because she never loved me but because removing that $2 from what she had, interfered with her ability to feed 10 children. I came to understand that sometimes parents make decisions based on priorities and my trip was not top of her priorities at that time.
I have a conviction that the things life denied us is not indicative of divine hatred but a revelation of His ability to provide in His time. I can afford more than two dollars today, and my story has been used by God to help many. I hope you will understand what God is doing knowing quite well that even though we can’t see Him, we can still trust Him.
Dr Nick Ohizu is the senior pastor of The Empowerment Ministries and the president of the Empowerment School of Wealth both located in Graniteside, Harare. He is a successful Entrepreneur with vast experience in leadership, mentorship, business and marriage consultancy with a mandate from God to change lives and bless people.
To contact Dr Nick Ohizu for any of his Services, please call 0772304917.
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