Success is Possible for Every Person, Everywhere
- Category: Reviews
- Date 07-07-2022
- 492 views
‘Where There Is A Will’ is an inspirational book, and one of the most powerful I have read. In a captivating way, Venansio Ahabwe blends traditional African values, biblical teachings and modern trends without compromising either. Reading his pleasant narration of personal encounters in a traditional family setting, one momentarily forgets they are reading a self-help book. Along with beautiful tales and scriptural quotes, the writer enriched the book with proverbs and citations from great thinkers around the world.
The key message in the book is that success is possible for any person in any circumstances.
Sebo, the main character, had a typical village background and never went to school. Yet he is able to rise above the local conditions to become the envy of everyone in the neighbourhood. He sees White Fathers (priests) and admires them for they have everything that is missing in the community: shoes, cars, garments, and brick houses. On the other side, fellow villagers wear backcloth or scanty pieces of cloth and walk bare-footed all the time.
Sebo is determined to achieve what the whites have, so he works hard, keeps focused and succeeds. He owns a car and a beautiful house in his village. His wife, Nyabo, is uneducated but she does not slip into self-pity. She would not lament about her circumstances. Instead, she makes fun of her illiteracy and uses her God-given cleverness to solve complicated matters, including applying a kitchen knife to carry out a surgery on her dying son.
Nyabo belongs to the ranks of ‘village consultants’ who could forecast seasons and helped pregnant mothers to deliver babies without the benefit of modern medicine. In the end, she dies a fulfilled woman.
Today, it is ironical that ‘a modern woman’ easily weeps when she faces small ‘modern’ trials. There is absolutely no excuse for failure.
Many Bible characters like David, Moses, Joseph and Zacchaeus were disadvantaged but they registered tremendous success. For example, Zacchaeus who was a sinner and the shortest man in Jericho, managed to host Jesus at his home - because he creatively resolved his challenge by climbing a tree.
The writer asserts that whoever wants to reach the pinnacle of success must be ready to go an extra mile, be a risk taker, think positively, ignore negative criticisms, and become flexible, especially to confront the challenges that come along with climbing the success ladder. However, in a story of his own encounter with conmen, the writer cautions that flexibility does not mean careless submissiveness. It means tactful innovation.
In the final chapter, the writer asserts that to pray is to invoke a person’s inner divinity to attain success because prayer strengthens and links one to God, who is omnipotent and resides in every person.
This is a book you cannot put down once you start reading it. Irrespective of who you are, or what success means to you, this book is a must read.
Review by Fortunate Rukundo Akanyihayo
About:
Fortunate Rukundo Akanyihayo is an award-winning writer, social entrepreneur, and motivational speaker. Nicknamed ‘Princess’ by her students, Fortunate is also senior teacher of English Language and Literature in English at Immaculate Heart Girls’ School.
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