• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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The art of gifting

gifting

My mum, Josephine Amodu, bless her soul, will always remind me that we are going to visit a family who has been bereaved or just had a baby. Usually, she would also remind me that we have to take a gift. So, we will scour the market for an appropriate gift if it was a birth, and cartons of water or drinks, if it was a passing. I learnt from my mum that giving is noble and sustains relationships. Woe betide you if you ever showed me kindness or any of her children for that matter. Amodu will be on her way from Zaria to Kaduna with a car boot full of yams.

Sometimes when we were living in Makurdi she would travel the miles to thank someone for their kindness with a basket of fish. Thankfulness and gratitude, my mother would say avail much. And sometimes, you do not have to have given her anything and she will turn up in your home with a basket of fruits. I benefitted this quality from my mum and learnt that no one is too rich not to cherish a gift and too poor not to give. I have seen the generosity of people who are struggling and it is beautiful. It is akin to the widows’ mite in the bible. The lowly often give the last of what they have. The rich on the other hand can be very stingy with their charity.

It was said that Mother Theresa when gifted with rice at a difficult time, walked across the road to share with her Muslim neighbours. Giving has no barriers. It does not know ethnicity, nor class. Have a heart of giving no matter who is involved. Be led to give and don’t give as precursor to receiving. Give without a thought as to what you can get back. It is said in the holy books that we should try and not reward our enemies with the evil they showed us but to be kind for if we are kind to only those who are our friends, we have not done much because it is expected that we will do that.

I remember a young man at the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, when I was Executive Director programmes, who I had never met but suddenly had his case on my table. He had made a grievous mistake. He had failed to punch off a computer button where he was carrying out a dub. What then happened was unimaginable. The premium 9pm NTA Network news went out with the correct pictures but with the audio from his computer which had nothing to do with the news. It was unprecedented and a crime that could cost him his job. Worse still it went on for all of nearly seven minutes. I received calls from top level persons drawing my attention and calls also went to the Director General before the young man realised what had happened. It was a difficult day and preparations were on for heads to roll.

Gifting is a very special assignment giving to humanity. It melts hearts, elevates people and elicits prayers. Nothing is more beautiful than receiving a gift from the most unlikely person and cherishing that moment for the rest of your life

Although the young man did not work with me directly, he was on my nominal roll and posted to a station. Things went very quickly without me. He was first of all suspended while the investigations were going on. I sent for him and near tears, he narrated his story. He had been given an assignment by his immediate boss which he was doing on the computer and had no idea it was going out. I asked him to explain himself in writing to management and apologise promising that it will never happen again. Also, to say his boss had also given him a deadline to complete an assignment which was why the work on the computer was going on simultaneously with his operational duties.

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To my utter shock and horror, this boss in question who was also my staff denied that she gave him anything to do because as I later found out it was something personal, she asked him to do something which jeopardised his official assignment. She could not rise as a human being and did a Judas on him. In the meantime, the hawks were circling calling for his head. Anticipating a big hammer on his head, he came to tell me all these happenstances. I wrote to the DG pleading for mercy. I also found that those other colleagues of his who could have helped to mitigate the disaster as members of the team failed to show up for duty on the day. Operational areas especially in broadcasting and transmission are team led and where there are awkward moments, another team member can save the situation. In this case before, during and after the disaster, they left him out to dry.

I pursued his case relentlessly and did not give up until at least he got a fair hearing. He was reinstated but sadly was demoted. Be that as it may, he was thankful. One day to show his gratitude, he turned up in my office carrying a live chicken. It was amazing. As he went on his knees.  I felt a lump in my throat. My mum, he said, says I should give you this. She says she will always pray for you and will never forget you.  It was my biggest and most important gift that month. A live chicken from a woman I did not know and had never met. She says she does not have much, her son said, but this is from her heart.

Gifting is a very special assignment giving to humanity. It melts hearts, elevates people and elicits prayers. Nothing is more beautiful than receiving a gift from the most unlikely person and cherishing that moment for the rest of your life. When children pick you out of all their parent’s visitors and give you their favourite toy, worn and bald if it used to have hair, it’s one of the most beautiful things in the world. Sometimes it’s a spittle filled biscuit which is dear to them and they offer you. It’s a gift of the spirit. You may not eat it because it is so gooey but accept it with mirth.

Giving fills hearts with joy and underlines the articulate point of faith that says it is better to give than to receive.

Gift all the time. Your guard, an orphanage, some rice to the needy. Your store is bursting at the seams. Give so you can receive the reward of giving from God himself.

Always remember to say thank you. A little note, a little gift. Do not wait until you need another favour from someone before you show your thankfulness. Spread some joy. Give for no reason during this pandemic. You do not know where it pinches the receiver. Spread joy… It is a good thing.

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