Blame Game

She started the creche right after 
her NYSC
It had always been her life goal to 
own one
She loved babies and when she
was in secondary school, her mother 
ran a creche
Her mother was a matron with the 
government hospital at the time
Her mother also took maternity 
cases at home especially cases 
involving members of her father's 
church
Her mother's creche was a side hustle
It was located at the second sitting 
room of her father's mansion
A house built to impress the world 
but was found to be too big for the 
family
Too many rooms were unfurnished 
and unoccupied this was primarily 
because her father lost his banking 
job before completing the building 
and they had to move in before their 
rent expired
Because her father married two wives, 
one wing was built for each wife and 
her children
To present a front of equality and 
keep the families 
apart while keeping them together 
under the same "room"
As soon as her father lost his job as 
the regional director of a merchant bank, 
the second wife sold many of the 
properties under her care and took 
off with her secret lover
The move caught the entire family 
by surprise, even the second wife's 
children
The body blows were too much for 
her father
The loss of his job, his other investments 
(a mill, hotel, and some hectares of land) 
sold off by his second wife
Her father fell ill and almost died
By the time he recovered from the 
illness, he was a shadow of himself
Her mother had to brace up to the 
challenge of raising ten children 
(Five from her and five from the 
second wife) by herself
This was what led her to start a creche
Her father didn't recover at the 
hospital, he recovered at a uniform 
wearing church
The founder of the church insisted 
her father had a divine call and 
must pastor a church
Her father bought into the idea
Perhaps in order to atone for the sins, 
he committed in the past which were 
haunting him at that moment or 
because he really had a call
Her father started a church that 
attracted a lot of poor people
Her mother was dragged into the 
mess and she ended up providing 
free maternity care for the members 
of the church
As a secondary school student, the 
creche was her baby
Her mother paid her and a professional 
nurse to man the creche and she was a 
a natural
Babies loved her as much as she loved 
them
The parents of the babies placed in 
their creche also loved her
It was her calling
It was all she wanted to do and she 
prepared herself for it
She saved up most of her NYSC 
allowance and invested in creche 
equipment
She also registered her company 
and since she studied nursing she 
was certified to run one
She started small and it grew
Within a year, her creche had forty 
babies ranging from week old babies 
to two-year-olds
By the second year, she had bought 
a property and employed more staff 
members 
the creche had over a hundred babies
One day she got a visitor, an old friend 
from the university
They were not too close but they 
were on talking terms when she was 
an undergraduate
The friend came to inform her that she 
was starting a nursery and primary 
school down the street 
and would like her to direct the parents 
of the babies in her care to the school
She didn't have any plan of starting a 
school and eagerly agreed to help 
her friend
Her friend sent marketers with fliers 
to her creche to canvass parents
With her endorsement, many of the 
parent 
started placing their children in the 
school
Things were good for about a year
Then she began getting reports from 
unsatisfied parents who tacitly blamed 
her for introducing them a partner 
who doesn't really care for their 
children beyond fleecing them of 
their money
These are parents whose friendship 
and respect she had spent years 
cultivating
She tried talking to her friend but 
her friend told her point-blank that 
running a creche and running a 
school are two different things
They are also two different people 
and their approach to issues cannot be 
the same
Her friend said it was in consideration 
of her that she hadn't started her 
own creche
The school should ordinarily have one 
but they had a working agreement and 
she was honoring it without poking her 
nose into how the affairs of the creche 
were run.
In order words, her friend asked her to 
mind her creche and keep her opinion 
about the school in her pocket
When she got home, she discussed what 
transpired at the meeting with her fiancee
Her fiancee laughed and told her to stop 
being short-sighted and sentimental
"Start a nursery and primary school 
today, I will back you up with the 
finances and recruit good hands for you. 
If you want anything done to your taste, 
you have to do it yourself"
She prayed about it for a week and told 
her fiancee she was ready
Her fiancee was a manager with a 
microfinance bank and such an offer 
was too good to pass by
Her creche as at that time owned two 
properties and had over three million 
Naira in their savings account
All she did was remodel one of the 
properties into a nursery and primary 
school while the other property 
remained the creche
She applied and got her 
approval from the state's board of 
education and recruited teachers
By the time the next academic year 
started, she rolled out her nursery 
and primary school
Of course, she expected her friend 
to get angry but it was the logical 
thing for her to do both business-wise 
and it wasn't 
as if her friend cannot start her own 
creche as she had earlier insinuated
Within a week, her school was full
Parents who had been grudgingly 
patronizing her friend withdrew their 
children from her friend's school and 
brought them to her school
Her friend couldn't hold back the 
bile
Her friend called her on the phone 
and rained curses and abuses on her
Her friend called her a saboteur, 
a Judas, a wolf in sheep clothing, 
an unfaithful person, a witch
She tried to explain to her friend that 
the problem was within and not 
without
If your customers were 
satisfied they wouldn't be looking 
for a better option
Customer satisfaction is the key to 
patronage, not sentiment
Should she have insisted people 
must patronize her friend when 
even she knew her friend was not 
running the business the right way?
Would she have told the parents 
came to her with their complaints to 
put up with it because there can be 
no alternative?
Really?
If a third party had seen the lacuna 
and started a school in that estate, 
would her friend have the guts to 
accuse such of sabotage?
The accusation was sentimental 
and immature in her opinion
She tried to reason with her friend 
and her friend told her to shut up
Then she starts her own school and 
her friend felt it was done out of spite
She told her friend to look within and 
do better but her friend was too 
blinded by emotion to see things 
as they truly were 
Within two years, her friend's school 
folded up and her friend moved out 
of the estate
Her school thrived and within five 
years, she started a secondary school
 which thrived gloriously too
She and her friend never reconciled
She still wonders if what she did 
was wrong

PS: It is difficult to convince an 
unreasonable person to see things
in the right light
Especially when such would rather
look for a scapegoat to blame for 
his or her failure rather than do the
right thing
The Bible referred to some people
as wicked and unreasonable; may
God deliver us from such. Amen
 

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