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A Sapa Story turned Faith Story

Welcome to Sapa Diaries, where we get real about student struggles. This is your go-to spot for stories about money, hustle, and how students survive without breaking the bank. From budgeting tips, and saving hacks to straight up survival stories, we explore how to survive and thrive as a student without losing your mind or your wallets. This is the place where we dive into the grind, hustle and survival while keeping it relatable and real.

Today, I sat down with **** who shared one of the most intense sapa moment he’s ever faced as a student. Think of days when you have only garri to eat, or days when your next meal is coming only by faith. But in the midst of all, his sapa moment turned out to be one of the most memorable period of his life. Why? Find out in this story.

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TOLD FROM HIS POV

After 200 level, engineering students in my school don't get holiday. While the whole school gets to pack their bags and go home, we start something called SWEP- Student Work Experience Programme. No break. Hot sun. And for me, a very empty pocket.

Now, I'm not a big fan of using the word ‘Sapa’ but for the sake of this story, I'll allow it. Because honestly, what do you call a period when you have nothing to eat? No food, no money, just faith, garri and leftover custard?

Before SWEP, my parents had already sent me foodstuffs, not once but twice. First at the beginning of the semester, then towards exam period.

My roommates and I share a strong bond, We cook together so it's only natural that if one of us has foodstuffs, it meant everybody had foodstuffs. That bond? I won't trade it.

So when the foodstuffs my parent sent for exam period came, I wasn't eating alone. Those foodstuffs were feeding all of us. These foodstuffs, which were supposed to last me about two months (exam periods and SWEP period) finished before the exams ended.

I couldn't even tell my parents because they had warned me not to be “too shary,” and I knew deep down that it was my cross to carry.

After exams, everyone else went home, it was just me and my roommate, Bayo, left in the room. To be honest, that time was tough. We had no food, no money and we couldn't go home because of SWEP.

With no money coming in, that's how we got into Telegram airdrops, farming coins and hoping to make small change that we could use to survive. At some point, we even entered online loan apps (not something I'm proud of)

I know that, in reality, I could have just called home but I knew that they wouldn't give me a listening ear because they've told me already to be careful about how I share things. I knew at that point that what I was facing was a consequence of my action and decisions. Moreover, I didn't have the mind to call them.

Some days, there was nothing to eat. Other days, we only drank garri. Some days, it was only custard (because we had that left) and no money to buy sugar to at least sweeten it. Some days we drank water.

At one point, Bayo made some money from a Telegram airdrop. We had already planned and budgeted the money. Then his phone got spoilt. All the money had to go into fixing his phone. It felt like things were crashing down.

But funny enough, I wasn't sad. I was laughing everyday.

I'm a leader in church; I've been trained not to let hard moments consume me. So even though things were tight, I was more fixated on how I'll feel after this was over and how I'll share my testimony. I saw a glimpse of hope because I knew this wasn't going to last forever.

I'm also not the type of person who gets consumed by hard moments but rather I look to the future to see what it holds and how I'm going to feel after this. This is because of the type of training I had as a leader and worker in church.

My pastor, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, really teaches on power of the mind and the things people do when they're experiencing hard moments. Those teachings helped me keep a positive outlook even when things felt tough.

Would I have done anything differently? Maybe. I could have portioned the foodstuffs better and not cooked 6 cups of rice for the 4 or 5 of us. But do I regret sharing the foodstuffs? Absolutely not. Because the alternative was that I'll be eating and my roommates will be starving and that isn't what I stand for.

That period taught me the need for proper planning and effective management. It made me think and do some review of how I lived that month. I journal a lot and I did a backtrack of how the month went and how it led to this point. That experience made me think of better decisions I could have made.

That period was hard, but I actually had fun. It taught me faith, and I got to exercise my faith.

There was a day when we had nothing to eat, Bayo was lying down on the bed, trying to sleep the hunger away. You know that type of hunger that you'll want to sleep because there's nothing you can do? Yup.

But I woke him up, told him to pick up his bible and we went to a restaurant to sit. I told him to start praying in tongues, which we were doing. I told him to command money to come into his account. I had prayed a little, when I heard in my sprit to call a sister. I called her and I didn't even have to ask before she sent me money

That wasn't the only miracle, there was a lot more. That season was from one miraculous moment to another, sure there were days we were really hungry but it was also a period where I got to act in faith.

There were nights where we'd go to night class and just pray.

When things got better, I paid up my debt.

It could have been worse really, but God, in his infinite wisdom honoured our faith. While I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone, it turned out to be one of the most memorable moments of my life.

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1. Some details have been changed for the sake of privacy