A graduate, who has realized his dream of becoming a carpenter, has narrated the stiff opposition he faced when he chose carpentry as his future career while growing up.
Speaking on his journey to becoming one of the most successful artisans in the Upper East Region in an interview on Dreamz FM, Sadik Ibrahim revealed that his parents vehemently opposed his idea of becoming a carpenter and actually, subjected him to severe beatings in a bid to deter him from harboring any of such thoughts.
According to him, his father had inquired to know from him and his siblings what they aspire to be when they grew up. While his 3 siblings were mentioning revered professions like legal practitioners, pilots and medical practitioners as what they aspired to be, little Sadik indicated to his father his desire of becoming a carpenter.
Little Sadik’s choice of career infuriated his father who did not only oppose his choice but beat him severely in a bid to dissuade him from nursing such an idea.
But determined to actualize his dream, he narrated, he capitalized on his father’s lack of formal education to have him buy into and support his ambition to become a carpenter by playing a trick on him.
Sadik told his father, following the stiff opposition, that he had abandoned the idea of becoming a carpenter and that he intended to become a “wood engineer”.
His father, hearing him mentioned “engineer”, got elated and threw his support behind him to pursue his dream of becoming a “wood engineer”.
“You know usually a father will call you to find out what you want to be in future and definitely, every child has aspirations. So they called my elder brother and asked what he wanted to be in future and he said he wanted to be a doctor. My dad said that is a good thing, having a doctor in the family is a good thing. Then the second born was asked and he said he wanted to become a lawyer.
The 3rd born was asked what he wanted to be and he said he wanted to be a judge one day and they were all applauded for their choices. When it got to my turn, I had what I wanted to be in future so I said I wanted to be a carpenter and it was met with so much resistance. In fact the beatings were not even small but eventually I had to play smart and how did I do it?” He narrated.
He continued “I thought and said to myself anything that has do with wood is same thing as carpentry. So I said let me play smart on this. So I said I wanted to be a wood engineer and he said ‘that is brilliant, that is a good future career. Having an engineer in the family would be great’. So growing up, there has been a lot of resistance but I have always been somebody who desired to go into carpentry. I had always wanted to be my own boss and being my own boss, I need a job that would feed me and my family”.
Having cleverly gotten the approval of his family, Sadik started working to actualize his dream. He enrolled as an apprentice while in Junior High School but unfortunately had to drop off due to unfavorable circumstances.
He, however, did not give up and continued learning the trade of carpentry when he returned to Bolgatanga and got admitted into the Bolgatanga Technical Institute (Botech).
He said he mastered the craft of carpentry within a year instead of the minimum of 3 years required for one to have a full grasp of the trade as he was passionate and determined to learn the vocation.
After graduating from the tertiary level, Sadik decided to setup his own shop to ply his trade. He revealed that he turned down an opportunity to be employed into the public sector as he was determined to be his “own boss”.
He started saving the little monies he got from working for people and within a short period of time, was able to put up a tent as his workshop.
He said business started picking up as he worked under the tent and in no time, he made a lot of money to erect a befitting workshop and subsequently expanded it.
Sadik indicated that earnings from his trade have enabled him to acquire numerous properties and live comfortably.
