Good friends are treasures
It was the end of exams last year December, when four of my friends, Daniel, Ada, Nmeso, Ngozi and I were talking about our sick friend Kene. He was really sick during the last paper so he quickly finished up and went to the school hospital. By the time the rest of us were done in the evening, and we tried to reach him, he wasn't answering our calls. Naturally, we were bothered, and scary thoughts started going through our minds.
“Could it be he was admitted when he went to the school hospital?” Nmeso asked.
“Even if he was admitted he would be with his phone, and Kene always picks our calls” I replied
Ada and Ngozi were further analyzing the situation when Daniel walked up to us
“Hey girls, has anyone been able to reach Kene?” he asked.
We replied that we hadn't and we were even deciding if we should check the school hospital to know whether he was there or not.
“This is strange, and I saw something about a student dying just this evening on all the campus WhatsApp TV's” he replied worriedly.
The rest of us checked our WhatsApp statuses and found out it was true, we quickly rushed to the hospital, and we were informed that he'd been picked up by his uncle, but they did not tell us if he was doing better or worse. Further attempts to reach him yielded no results, so we decided to go home and decide what next to do on our group chat.
Later that night Daniel and I figured there was only one place where we could find him the next day: At the cybercafe where he worked inside the school. Kene was one of the full-time students who also worked to earn extra money, he repaired phones, he worked in a cybercafe and on people's farms outside school etc. It was normal for him to call any one of us to assist him with school activities which we did.
The problem was that he stressed himself a lot trying to juggle both work and academics that he was always sick during that period. The next day we all arrived in school even though exams had ended and headed to the cybercafe. When we got there, we discovered that Daniel and I had been right.
Kene was surprised to see us and happy that we came to look for him. He also apologized for getting us worried, and we accepted the apology after threatening to break his leg if he scared us like that again. The visit was a short one because it was a business premise, and he decided to see us off.
“There's this conversation I've been wanting to have with everyone, thank God we're all here today” Kene said.
“Hope all is well?” Nmeso asked.
“What is it this time?” Ada asked impatiently. Kene was that one friend that would hold spirited conversations that forced you to do better whether you liked it or not. Ada was not a fan of such conversations, so they always bickered when we were together, and she constantly said or did something to annoy almost all of us regularly.
Ngozi, Daniel and I tried to hold our laughter as Kene and Ada eyed each other angrily.
“Anyway, what I wanted to say is that we're done with our third year in school. Next year is for our industrial training, and it means we'll have some spare time on our hands” Kene said.
“You're right, finally we'll be able to rest a little” Daniel said happily.
“True, this semester was really stressful” I agreed.
“You're right, but I'm not talking about resting. What I wanted to say is that we all should start planning our lives. We don't have to wait until we graduate before thinking of starting a business or making money” Kene said.
The rest of us kept quiet and listened to him. His plan was for everyone to have something doing, and there was also talk of maybe combining our resources and knowledge to help everyone grow financially. Most of my friends had side hustles already, Ngozi was into fashion design, Daniel was good at graphic designing, Kene was a computer whiz so that left Ada, Nmeso and I.
“So Nmeso what can you do?” Kene asked.
“I'll learn a handwork or something. Let me think about it” Nmeso replied.
Ada simply wanted to start a business selling clothes, or to invest in any good business idea that would make her rich.
When it got to my turn, I replied.
“You know I keep talking about writing, I love to write, so I'll start looking for a way to do what I love and earn at the same time. I would also love to learn catering”.
“Madam writer, what do you know you're writing? And what is Nmeso going to learn?” Ada asked mockingly and started laughing.
We all turned and stared at her until she realized that what she'd said wasn't funny, and she stopped laughing. The rest of us ignored her for the rest of the meeting, and we all went home. Kene's words stuck with me and I realized he was right, no matter how stressful and time-consuming our course was, I needed to find a way to start earning before I graduated.
I had always been procrastinating going online to look for a website where I could write and earn. I remembered I'd heard something about it from a friend of mine, but then I had told her that I couldn't do it at the time because I was busy with school. That night I took it seriously and started searching and with my friend's help I discovered Hive, and I wish I'd done so earlier.
Kene's words and the conversation helped us all engage in one activity or the other. I support the others with advice, referrals and patronage. And as if my mother knew what my friends and I discussed, she called me earlier this year asking me to think about any handwork I wanted to learn and get back to her. I was surprised but happy by the direction my life is taking. So I'm going to end this post by saying Thank God for good friends! Haha
Good friends are definitely treasures. Friends like Kene, even if you are the business savvy type or not, they'd carry your business on their head like it's theirs. And that's how it should be. Maybe not business wise but generally
Exactly they are blessings
Aww... Kene is a very good friends. Friends that want to see you grow are the best to have around. A very beautiful write-up dear Loveth
Some friends come into our lives to impact positively into us. I am glad Kene's words made you pursue what you are passionate about.
Your interesting story shares how important friends can be — not only for friendship and moral support, but for concern when things are not going well and for collaborating and coming up with ideas. It sounds like a great group of friends.
A tip: Be sure to read your work carefully before posting. Every sentence should have a period at the end, for example. These small details can make a big difference in the quality of your story. Thank you for sharing your creative nonfiction story in The Ink Well, and for reading and commenting on the work of other community members.
What a good friends you have. It admiring to see you guys showed compassion and concern for each other. That's what friendship is all about, you are lucky to have this group of friends.