The mandasi woman who motivated me!
Just two days ago, I decided to go to the office early. I had a pile of assignments that I needed to clear from my desk. I passed through Lilongwe old town—it was relatively quiet as this was around 5.00am.
As I negotiated a corner on a dusty road that acts as a short route to my office, there was a lady that sells mandasi (fritters). I usually see her when I use that route. But I never imagined she would be at that spot as early as 5.00am.
But there she was with her plastic mandasi bucket beside her. She smiled widely as I curiously stopped and rolled my car window down to ask her what time she normally wakes up. The rest of the discussion is interesting but is beyond the scope of why I am writing today.
I must say with all sincerity that this lady impressed and motivated me beyond measure. Some of the key questions that came to mind were: if this lady works this hard, why can’t I? Would I not be able to realise more earnings if I dedicated more efforts to realising my full potential? With the little income this woman gets, she still wakes up early and employs her skills to survive and perhaps grow her business. What have I done with my income over the years to grow it beyond mere survival?
You see, sometimes we take things for granted but we are far much in better positions than so many people out there. It sometimes just takes a simple reflection on what we earn, what education we have, what we have as assets to realise that time for complaining can be put to better productive use. We have all it takes to be what we should be in life but sometimes we are not applying ourselves hard enough. Just stop complaining and begin to act.
This mandasi woman may never be the big business person that I would desire her to be for all her hard work. Why? Simply because she does not have the income levels and education assets you and I have.
May this poke you into action and get you to apply yourself harder—a better life is possible without you always looking up to somebody.
Have a blessed weekend!
