How often

About a month ago when the safaricom IPO was in the heat of it, a smiling and seemingly shy girl walked to my desk and introduced herself purposefully. From her uniform, i could tell she was one of the hospitality staff. in fact the ones in the tea section. after what appeared to be a dutiful smile she went straight to her mission. she wanted to take a loan from me. she said she had approached banks already but they could not lend her the money. the young girl barely in her 20s wanted a loan badly and was willing to repay it over 4 months with almost 45% interest when i made my calculations. i still have no idea why she saw me as a potential lender but here she was smiling and expectant. but why did she need a loan so urgently? To buy Safaricom shares. according to her proposal, she would pay me in installments until she cleared the sum loaned with the interest on top. to say the least i was very impressed at her grasp of the issues at hand.

I reclined on the seat and got my breath to ask how much she wanted. i knew that would give me a good excuse. 10K to buy the minimum. she offered as her security the shares themselves and even said if they went up the first day she would sell and pay me back. i told her to give me time to think about it. i wanted at least 2 hours break to just think about the 'ambush' .

2 hours later she was back and with even more stories to back her request. i sought to know why she found safaricom so attractive. she said she wanted to take up a course in front office. the course would cost her 40K she estimated that safaricom shares would go up 4 times in the first month. she would sell and register for her course and that way get her dream!

I was so impressed i wanted to give her the money for free but thought it would destroy her spirit, she would feel indebted to me and in any case she was not seeking favors she wanted a loan. so i gave her the money and she walked away after showering me with the greatest number of 'thank yous' i have had this year.
I never saw her again after that and told myself i could as well have been conned.

Last Monday the girl walked to my workstation again with her smile and bright eyes. she had her first installment. she handed it to me proudly and also told me she was surprised i trusted her yet i had never met her before. baffled i listened as she went on to describe how her career path would be. after the front office she would get a better job and pay for a course in mass communication and that would break all barriers to her. this time she was even more confident about the prospects of safaricom and promised to clear my debt when the trade begun. she walked away proud and smiling.

the only thought she left me with was : How often does that happen? isn't this what separates people; the extreme success and the hopeless pariahs.