What do you currently do as a job?
I am a pastor, a Christian Minister. I am also an entrepreneur, I basically run a vegetable farm and an Agro-business.
As a child what did you want to be when you grew up?
Among other things, I wanted to be a Pastor. I also wanted to be a doctor, or something in the medical line.
Did primary school and secondary school shape your ideas about your dream job?
I think that certain school experiences distracted me and shaped into me what I thought was supposed to be my dream job. I felt I needed to prove a point that I was intelligent. So, against deep personal convictions in SSS 1, I held on to my dream of becoming a doctor which at this point was no longer deeply rooted. The students considered more intelligent in my class were grouped into the science class. I was one of them and following my convictions would have seemed like making a statement that I wasn’t up to the task of coping in the science class.
At what point in time did you change your mind about that dream job?
After my one year pre – degree session, it was clear to me that becoming a doctor wasn’t the path I should follow, it wasn’t my strength but I still continued with one of its neighbors. It wasn’t until my 2nd year in University, that I accepted what my true passion and dream was. I didn’t exactly change my mind, I would say I accepted the already lingering but misunderstood and overlooked dream.
Why did you study what you studied in university? If you have a do over will you study the same course?
I certainly would not. I still remember arguments I had within me in SSS1 when I knew deeply that I shouldn’t be in the science class, that it wasn’t my natural expression but convinced myself otherwise to keep up with the Jones’s.
I studied chemistry because of all the options I had in the science department, microbiology and chemistry were the only two courses I felt I could manage, without feeling frustrated. At the end of my pre-degree, I felt I had too much vested in science already, I just picked the “neighbors” of medicine I could manage with.
How did the ‘’reality of adulthood’’ affect your dreams?
It made me see how foolish it was to have accepted a societal convention to live a life inconsistent with my inner essence. I had a total overhaul, though I couldn’t pull out of school to study another course, I had the chance to prepare for my real life while still studying a course I couldn’t wait to finish.
Do you believe your dreams are still within your reach?
They certainly are. They are really big but they are achievable.
Are you fulfilled with your life? If “Yes”, how? If “No” why?
I am not entirely fulfilled, I see fulfillment as a continuing journey of growth. I don’t believe I am there yet, however, I believe I am well on my way to fulfillment as I experience little jolts of fulfillment when I do things consistent with my dreams.
What are your hobbies? And does your current line of work give you time for them?
In no particular order, thinking, teaching, reading, speaking, writing, doing music, and coordinating.
My role as a pastor gives me not just the time but the platform to teach, speak, write and coordinate. Teaching feels like the most fulfilling thing I do. I literally can do this all day.
I still get the chance to do some church music although not as often as I used to. I still compose songs.
Business brings out the strategist, the coordinator and fast thinker in me, the challenges and the targets all serve to give a sort of fulfillment that a routine job can’t give me. I must admit though that starting out has been more engaging than I imagined and it has threatened to take up every available time but that is just a phase and things are gradually balancing out as we set up better running structures.
Do you have any regrets? If “Yes”, what are they?
I did but I have outgrown my regrets. Though it seems I started early. I regretted that I knew better than I acted in the past and should have aligned with who I truly was much earlier than I did. My take on my regrets is that “the earliest time I have to Make a change is NOW.”
Will you look back in the next ten years and be happy with how your decisions today have shaped your future?
I hope so. I believe without apologies that even though I have doubts, if I keep following God, my future is certain. Some of the things I’m now grateful for and comfortable with were things I feared to dare in the past, they were decisions plagued with many doubts. However, I figure that today was yesterday’s future and if today, I’m glad I dared to stay true despite uncertainties in the immediate past, I can be confident that this history might repeat itself.
Do you have any fears for the future? If “Yes”, what are they?
Yes I do. Fears that I may have been wrong, fears that things may not work out as planned. Upon arriving at the present, I realized that my past fears didn’t live up to their threats, so, I’m learning to live with the fears till my results prove them wrong.
