It is important for students in universities to start thinking about how to make money. Even without enough academic qualifications, university students can make money through thetalents. They can lift every gift. They can hone useful soft skills. For instance, university students can make money through writing and public speaking. University students can make money through mentorship and apprenticeship. That is, learning a certain skill under someone, and in the process making some money.
Remember, in 1 Timothy 6:10, Paul the Apostle told Timothy, ‘The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.’ So, he just cautioned him against the lure of lucre. For money itself is not bad. Prosperity is good. But poverty is bad. Through it all, thinking about moolah is not evil. After all, we need money to live decently. We need money to dress well. We need money to eat good food. No wonder, in Ecclesiastes 10:19b, says “And money answers everything.”
Unfortunately, our schools hardly teach us about means of making money. In case you have read the heroic book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, then, you know the reason most students lack the soft skill of financial literacy. Now, being that university students are young adults, the best thing they can do is to start thinking about creative and innovative ways of making money. For life will keep on becoming tough. One of my favourite quotes about money and how it is made, is by Robert H. Schuller, the putative author of Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do. In that page-turner, I read the quote: “There is nothing like money problem, it is always an idea problem, and a good idea attracts money.”
Recently, I was having a candid conversation with a certain comrade in Nairobi. He told me that high school students are richer than university students. Just in jest. I laughed loud about it. Then, when I thought about it, I saw some sense in it. Somewhat, most high school students are recipients of great treats from parents. Parents do for them everything because they consider them children who are not yet adults. When they are reporting to school at the tail-end of holidays, parents give them pocket money. When their pockets run dry, they do not cry, but try to call home, and parents send money through class teachers. But for comrades in universities, the story is a bit different. It is a sad sob story. In universities, there is what they call kuinama, where comrades are hunched by hunger and harrowing varsity experiences.
When I take a mental flight back to those dreary days, it was sad indeed. I faced adversity in university. When I travelled from village to college, I did not know that I was enrolling into what Napoleon Hill calls University of Hard Knocks. For as Ryan Holiday aptly puts it in The Obstacle is the Way, I was tried in the crucibles of adversity, and forged in the furnace of trial. When life placed me on the short end of the stick, I thought of traveling back to the lacustrine land, where I was born and brought up. But then, I thought, what would I tell pious people who prayed for me when I left the lake for the mountain? So, I sought solace and peace in the wise words of Martin Luther King, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” Being a practising Christian, I found hope and help in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called to his purpose.”
So, for all comrades, sometimes, life can be very hard. It can be bad. Things can be sad. You can find yourself in the zone of doldrums. That is when you will have to awaken your creative and innovative genius. In case you refuse to think, then university problems will leave you more hunched to the ground. You must train yourself to use the head (think deeply), hands (work hard) and heart (pursue your passion). Remember, when you are an adult in the university, you cannot manifest as a victim. Instead, you must always walk head held high like a victor. As in my case, I was born outside wedlock. Mom died when I was 7 years old. Now, the parents I had when I traveled to university were my grandparents who were old like Ramogi Hills and helpless. I too, was hapless and hopeless, but being a believer, I thought about that timeless question God poses every time He intends to repair the despair of His children who are caught up in the verge of defeat: What is in your hands?
For Moses, it was the rod, which he used to divide the Red Sea when Egyptians pursued them with rage. For Samson son of Manoah, it was the jawbone, which he used to finish the Philistines. For Apostle Paul of Tarsus, who inspires me a lot, it was the powerful pen. His drops of ink made people think deeply about Christianity. While he was preaching in chains, in those tough times the pen helped him. Meaning, when we are caught up in tough times, we can make wise use of our in-born talents, God-given gifts and soft skills we have honed. For Proverbs 22:29 puts it aptly, “Do you see a man skillful in his business? He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men.
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Therefore, while in the university, one of the creative and innovative ways of making money is wise use of talents, gifts and skills God has given you as a student. Then, you can also make wise use of your useful habits and hobbies. Likewise, you can make wise use of your useful routines and rituals to make more moolah. In my case when I was in the university the burden of defraying fees, paying rent outside university, and affording food weighed me down. It was real kuinama, hunched by hunger and harrowing university experiences.
But when I thought deeply, I found a way out. I had built the habit of reading avidly. Researching and learning new stuff were my hobbies. Praying was a routine and ritual I was prone to. I had the gift of preaching. Writing was a skill I was honing with real zeal and trenchant zest. Therefore, as a struggling university student, my creative and innovative ways of making money revolved around trusting God to use what He gave me to hue a stone of hope from the mountain of despair. No wonder, Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that is working in us.”
I gathered courage and went to meet the Vice Chancellor. Despite my incessant visits, the secretary did not allow it to happen. But she did not know I had read about The Parable of the Persistent Widow in Luke 18. So, after ten failed attempts, one morning, at around 7:00 am, when I was from morning prayers in the chapel, I saw the Vice Chancellor sauntering to his office. I followed him, and requested whether I could book an appointment to meet him. Prof Paul Mungai Mbugua, nodded to my heartfelt request. So, it is how I became a research assistant to the Professor of Medicine. Every week, he assigned me a task to read and research about in the discipline of Medicine. Whenever I submitted the assignment, he gave me some doit amount of money that went into my upkeep. Luckily, one good day, the Professor of Medicine held my humble hands. We ambled at an academic angle to the library. We met the Senior Librarian. He instructed him to allot me an office within that edifice set aside for Masters and PhD candidates.
So, every time I visited the library, I had a special room where I did my academic work. I also had the best desktop computers with sufficient internet supply. So, it is where I sat to write and read avidly. When I racked my brain, creative and innovative ways of making money through writing started percolating in my mind. Of course, I made some money. Then, I initiated some writing projects. I started writing my first-born book titled From Obstacles to Miracles. Then, because I was training as a teacher of English and Literature, I read and started writing good guides of KCSE set texts. I penned the guide for The River and The Source by Margaret Atieno Ogola, The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht and Betrayal in the City by Francis Davies Imbuga.
Interestingly, the guide books opened for me wide doors to deliver some academic talks in the nearby schools. I received some meagre amount of money. I also got part-time jobs to teach English and Literature at Kikuyu Day School and Rev. Musa Gitau Girls School. As a young teacher, I was able to earn some money to help me survive and thrive. In the university Christian Union where I served for “two terms” as the Mission and Evangelism co-ordinator, I was the one who came up with the list who was to go do devotions at the assemblies in the nearby primary and secondary schools. Being the one in-charge, I assigned myself more sessions for desired to learn how to address students. In the process, Principals loved my preaching and assigned me more work. They requested me to deliver career and academic talks. They requested me to train the student leaders. So, I made some money.
Moreover, I thought of starting an academic and career consultancy. That was the birth of God’s Pen Consultancy where we roll out Penman Programmes by focusing on reading, writing, speaking and training. Still as the co-ordinator of Missions and Evangelism in the Christian Union, I spear-headed several missions to PCEA Churches in Central Kenya; that explains my connections with PCEA. When working with churches, we do not do business. But after preaching or facilitating a seminar, they do not tell you “go with Jesus.” For everywhere a preacher goes, he goes with Jesus, and depends on His aegis. Therefore, an organised Church like PCEA, supports preachers with what they call honorarium or love offering.
By Victor Ochieng’
The writer rolls out Upskilling Programmes: Soft Skills and Employability Skills Training for students in universities and colleges. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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