Mama Agbaje’s Advice.

It’s been fifteen days since Amanda lost her security job at Zenith bank. Amanda, a single mother to three boys has no choice than to do any petty job she finds as long as it can put food on her table and she can feed her kids.

Instead of sleeping all day, you can begin to sell cold drinks at the front of your house. It’s better than doing nothing, Mama Agbaje, the eldest woman in the neighborhood counsels Amanda after she fainted at a place where went to do her usual petty jobs.

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There may be so many women who sell cold drinks in the neighborhood, but they all make sales. This is what Amanda thought of and she was prompted to start the business.
Very early on the next day, Amanda stood up in the midst of her kids, went outside their one room apartment to take her bath. She got back inside to wear her dress and leave for Obinna’s shop.

Mummy, where are you going to? Isaiah, Amanda’s last child saw his mum tying her scarf and preparing to step out for the day.

I’m going to Obinna’s shop. I want to buy a freezer so I will start up the cold drinks business which Mama Agbaje spoke to me about, Amanda said, gave Isaac a ten Naira note and dashed out of the house.

Obinna’s shop is quite far to the house but it’s less than thirty minutes journey. On getting there, Amanda checked three good and small freezers and as time goes on when she has money, she will get a bigger one if the business goes well.

Oga Obinna, how much is this? she asked.

That one is two hundred and fifty thousand Naira oh, Amanda who thought the price of a freezer isn’t more than a hundred thousand Naira bursts into tears.
The last money she had in her account was one hundred and twenty thousand and she hoped to get the freezer for eighty thousand Naira, get some drinks for twenty thousand Naira and feed on the remaining money. Now, her dream of selling drinks became impossible at that moment.

Amanda turned back to her house since she cannot afford to pay for the freezer. She got home to spread the bad news to her sons.

Mummy, I know how to make a local freezer. Let us make it and if we can be buying blocked drinks from Iya Ramo and we’ll be storing it here. It won’t get hot, Emeka, Amanda’s first child says.

After a while, the kids stepped out to get empty cartons from different provision stores to make their freezer. Also, they checked around for five different sacks which they will use to make the freezer.

Are you boys sure that this would work, Amanda seem not to understand what her kids were doing but she watched them closely to see what the outcome will be.

The boys tore and removed every seal tape on the carton. After then, they put the sacks in each other to make it thicker. Then, they put more than enough cartons inside the sack in a way that any part of it doesn’t get exposed.
That was it and Emeka went inside their one bedroom apartment to inform his mum that they are done making the freezer.

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Mummy, we’re done making the freezer, Amanda never thought anything good will come out of it because how will ordinary sack and cartons make a blocked drink cool for hours?

What’s this? I already said this can’t work. Can this thing preserve a cold drink for hours? Amanda asked her kids.

Instead of replying, Emeka went to his piggy box and heads to Iya Ramo’s place to get a blocked drink. He got back and put it inside their mini freezer.

Mum, let’s wait for five hours, he said and they all continued their usual activities till it was five hours already. Lo and behold, it worked. Emeka’s freezer was able to perseve the blocked drink for over five hours.
Kudos to Emeka for finding solution to the problem.

On the next day, Amanda and her kids placed a logo outside their house and on it, they wrote, get cold drinks here.
That’s just how Amanda’s cold drink business started. On the first day, they sold out. The business got encouraging and Amanda and her kids took it seriously like their lives depends on it.

After a year, she had the money to buy a bigger and better freezer than the one which she could not afford before.