Life’s twists; From the hospital to the kitchen.

Growing up, I always admired the doctors and the nurses I see each time we visit the hospital. I vowed to become like them someday.
I imagined myself wearing that uniform and walking through the corridors, caring for people and doing what I love.
I never imagined that one day, i will think about that little girl’s dream and realize that life has taken me somewhere completely different.
I became a microbiologist

And even that degree didn’t take me where I thought it would. Today, I’m a chef and a food vendor not by choice but by necessity.
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Sometimes, I think about the irony of it all, the girl who once imagined herself in a hospital is now standing over a steaming pot of stew, the girl who studied science is now calculating the cost of tomatoes, chicken, gas and packaging. The person who once dreamed of a career in the laboratory is now building a food brand from whatever resources she can find.
If I’m being honest, there are moments when I have felt like a failure , not because being a chef or food vendor is beneath me, but because sometimes, I wonder what my life would look like if things had gone according to plan.
I have had seasons where money was scarce , where family responsibilities became overwhelming, where business was slow and I had to keep believing in something that wasn’t always giving me immediate results.
I have had to learn how to survive while still trying to dream. I have had to become many things at once; a teacher, food vendor, chef, businesswoman, a daughter, a student of life and a woman trying to build something out of very little, yet somehow, I’m still here.
Still cooking.

Still teaching

Still learning

Still dreaming

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Maybe the little girl who wanted to save lives wasn’t wrong, maybe she simply didn’t know that there are many ways to touch people’s lives. Maybe my dreams didn’t die.
Maybe it changed direction.

Today, I feed people, I teach children, I create opportunities for myself, I’m learning to turn my cooking into something bigger than just putting food on a table. I’m learning business , content creation, digital skills and different ways to build a future for myself. I may not have the life I once imagined, but I’m slowly building a life that is mine. And I am proud of that.

Sometimes, God doesn’t take you to the place you thought you were going. Sometimes, he takes you through places that teaches you resilience, humility, strength and creativity. I don’t know exactly where this road will end.

But I know this much;

I refuse to believe that my best days are behind simply because my life doesn’t look like the picture I had in my head as a child.
I’m 28 and still becoming.

I’m still finding myself.

Still discovering what I can do.

Still trying to turn my struggles into something meaningful.

And maybe one day soon, I will look back at this chapter; the small kitchen, the teaching, the slow sales, the what ifs, the countless art, the tears and realize that this was not the chapter where my life went wrong.
It was the chapter where I learnt how to build it.
So no, I didn’t become the doctor or nurse I once dreamt of being.

I became something else.

A woman who refused to give up on herself.

And perhaps, that is the most important thing I could ever become.

A microbiologist, chef and a food vendor l, such terrifyingly talented and sweet combination.