First of all, I want to say a big thank you to 
But first of all, I think a glimpse about my background is called for.
I am the third child as well as son in a family having six children. My mum and dad have been separated for a number of years now and all of us stay with our mum. Being a trader in petty goods and foodstuff, my mum has to work to her nails and half of the week she doesn't get to sleep at home as she moves from one market to the other, trying to secure what her children are going to eat. While our Dad pitches in once in a while, it is so rare and measly that we have stopped asking him for anything.
My elder brothers have been through with secondary school for years and by what I can only describe as grace, one of them got helped through his university education. The other is still at home. By that grace too, I found someone who was willing to sponsor me to the university and thanks to him, I'll begin my second year in a couple of weeks. But two of my younger siblings too just finished secondary school and are setting their sights on obtaining admission into tertiary institutions.
Knowing that my mother won't be able to sponsor them at all, I grew worried in school. I wanted a means by which I could assist her as well as my siblings. Prior to this period I was no stranger to menial and laborious jobs as these were what I did to gain admission into school too. But I realised I couldn't do this while in school, and the pay would be too small to cater for what I had in mind.
So I took to the internet, looking for any means possible to generate income that could meaningfully help my family while I continued my studies. I can't count how many websites I registered on for diverse schemes though none of them paid out.
But I kept searching!
And one evening, while going through a campus blog run by a student, I came across a PDF he had published about 40 ways to make money online. https://www.hawnsgist.com/2017/11/42-ways-make-side-cash-student-nigeria.html
On going through it, there were a lot of ideas that seemed impractical to me, but one of those that stuck with me was #steemit .
He described it as a site where you get paid for making posts. I later heard from someone that the owner of the site had cashed out from steemit recently and was so happy he made the post telling others about it. At first I was sceptical, until I checked out the website and then there was no going back for me. I wanted a piece of this action too.
The rest of the story is generic though I've got unique highlights interspersed throughout my journey in the steemit community till date.
I joined this community on the last day of November last year and back then, the only thing I had in mind was to come and make money. So I made a number of posts, entered into some contests. What discouraged me at first was the low payout I was getting. I began wondering if this was what I was going to use to help my mum out or if I should keep searching.
What made me stay was the fact that I won some prizes in the contests I applied for and other users I interacted with told me not to give up so soon. Due to the fact that I was not conversant with how steemit operated, I ended up making my introductory post one month after I had joined. https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@paragon99/introducing-myself-hello-steemians-2e92d52daeed5
So I took some risks and went headlong into the currency exchange part of steemit
during the Christmas and new year period and it paid off massively, relative to how I started. So I decided to stick around. And since then I've been opportuned to have been a partaker of #decentmemes which has helped me greatly too.
Today, although I've cashed out a couple of times(small values actually), I am convinced that if I want steemit to be the stepping stone for my siblings and mum, then I've got to sacrifice my time,as well as be extremely patient. Which is why I intend sticking with steemit to the end.
And I also realise it is no longer all about money, it is about people sharing ideas, information, and making others better.
So Speaking Of How Steemit Is Changing My Life
Using personal experience as a foundation, I am getting better at communicating with others. I used to be this introvert who kept to himself. But nowadays, I just can't stop telling people about steemit. I have promoted steemit to my siblings, relatives and friends. Initially most of them thought it wasn't for real, but those views are changing now. I've got friends like
who have joined steemit and are making posts of their own now, but it saddens me that till date, my siblings haven't gotten their accounts yet though they've applied for it over and over again.
Steemit has also given me the opportunity to relieve my mum of some of the financial burden she has had to bear with respect to my education. Now there are times when I don't have to ask her for money again, because I'm part of a community that has got my back. With time, I hope to be able to assist my younger ones once in a while without them having to trouble momma. This would have still been a dream but it is gradually becoming my reality, thanks to #steemit
Finally, steemit is a hub of ideas, innovations and knowledge. I get to meet people from different backgrounds and learn from their posts. My Steemit experience is definitely proving to be an eye-opener. I hope with time to be an active and valuable member of this community.
Thanks to
