Hi Hive,
It with great pleasure that I'm welcoming everyone to my blog and I hope you're doing well and having a great week.
Talking about my school days, even before I ever stepped into a classroom as a student, I already had something valuable in my hands which is my plumbing skills. It was not just a trade I picked up but it was a lifeline that would later carry me through one of the most financially challenging periods of my life and one of those period was my time in school.
I was excited about the journey ahead when I finally gained admission, but reality quickly set in. Because school expenses don’t wait for anyone. From tuition to accommodation, feeding, and daily needs, the pressure can become overwhelming, especially when financial support is limited. A lot of students struggled around me, constantly worried about where the next money would come from. I could feel that same pressure knocking at my door but I had an advantage and something I can actually rely on.
Plumbing became more than just a skill but it became my safety net.
While other student waited for allowances or depended entirely on family and friends, I had something I could rely on. Anytime there was a leaking pipe, a blocked drainage, or a faulty tap, I saw opportunity instead of inconvenience. I started taking small jobs within and around the school environment. It wasn’t easy balancing work and studies at first, but I quickly learned how to manage both.
Each job I completed brought in money, sometimes small, sometimes significant but always enough to ease the burden at hand at that time. I don't have to panic when bills showed up and I don't have to skip meals or feel stranded. My handwork gave me independence, dignity and I received a lot of respect just with that.
There is a different kind of confidence that comes from knowing you can actually solve your own financial problems, even in a limited way. And plumbing taught me responsibility, discipline, and resilience. It also made me understand that no skill is ever useless. What I once saw as just a way to earn before school now became the very thing that sustained me during school days.
Looking back now, I’m grateful I don't abandon my craft when I got admitted. But instead, I carried it with me, and it carried me through.
Today, I strongly believe that having a skill is just as important as having a degree, sometimes even more. Because when life gets tougher, it’s not just only what you know in books that saves you, but what you can do or create with your hands.
And for me, plumbing was not just work. It was survival. It was stability. It was my silent partner through school and even till date.
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