“13 YEARS A SLAVE”

This doesn’t literally mean I’ve been through slavery. I just considered my corporate world back then as chains and prison cells. I worked in the government sector for eight years then shifted to the BPO industry for the last five years. During those years, I’ve been subjected to different levels of iniquities and wickedness, exposed to the chaos of work politics and hypocrisy among peers. The agony of blending in with an environment that even in my wildest dreams I never wanted to be in.

All those years, I longed for freedom. Freedom from the chains of bondage and release from all the chaos and the rage. Although there are times, I felt the sense of belongingness, found good friends along the way, there’s still a void in my being that no matter what I do, could never be filled in. So, I started to journey, armed with endless curiosity, to a path I felt God is slowly taking me.

My fiancé introduced me to ESL Tutoring in 2017. At first, I’m hesitant because I am not a teacher by profession. But due to my fiancé’s persistence, I tried ESL and luckily, I passed. Been tutoring for two years when I felt I still am not in the right path. Yes, I was unchained from the hypocrisy of the corporate world, but I still felt chained from the same hypocrisy in just another setting. So while I struggle to maintain my composure to what I thought was my bread and butter that time, I constantly searched for another avenue where I can really pursue my passion, the gift that God bestowed in me since I was in my mother’s womb – that is writing.

I honestly am not a creative person though I have a wild imagination. I can create a lot of thoughts, things, and figures, but all inside of my head. I used to draw when I was a kid, but I’m more expressive when I write. I’ve been journaling since I was a kid and I’ve grown to love colorful notebooks and pens. They are my best friends until now. They know my deepest and darkest secrets that nobody, except God, knows.

Been “shopping” with online skills since I discovered freelancing. I joined a lot of freelancing groups and pages in Facebook, enrolled in a few paid courses, downloaded and read a lot of articles about the subject matter, and did all the things other aspiring freelancers did when they were starting out. I believed in everything I saw, read, and heard, but eventually fell into the abyss of frustration in the end.

I came to the point where I wanted to give up on freelancing and just go back to the corporate world and just be a human robot again. I prayed fervently to God and pleaded mercy and enlightenment. I asked Him to direct me to where He really wanted me to go and plant my seed again, and asked Him that wherever I grow my roots, I hope that I won’t feel the urge to uproot it, thus, let it be nurtured and grow in that spot. That’s when I found Work At Home Geek.

The first few months, I was really hesitant because of a lot of click-bait offers I’ve been through in the course of freelancing journey. But whenever I tried to click the “Unfollow” and “Unlike” button, God always mediates and as if whispering, “Child, give it a second thought”.

I then decided to stick for a while (so I thought), struggled to finish the FJ course inside the Open University, which took me many months to finish due to some reasons but God reminded me to continue. Afterwards, I enrolled in the SMM Masterclass and learned a lot from it.

I am now one of the core admins of Work At Home Geek and I am very much grateful to the community for allowing me to fall, trip, but at the same time, scoop me up and embrace me and remind me that God is always at work inside the community.

In addition to this, I am slowly applying what I learned in helping my fiance manage our small business, BathaLahi, and I hope that in the course of our journey in the business world, I will also be able to impart my knowledge about Social Media Management, and hopefully in the future, become the Social Media Strategist of our business. That is something I am also looking forward to. A business that my fiance and I built not for our selfish desires, but a business as our tithe to Him and service for the country.

I am still a work in progress.

I am still continuously honing my talents and gifts, and trying to multiply them so I can also give back to the community who never hesitated to accept me and remind me that there is still hope for the brokenhearted.

We may be bent, but we can never be broken as long as God’s on our center.

Thank you, SWAHG Community! I sincerely love you all to the moon and back.

~Claudz

SWAHG Core Admin