A fire that destroyed all save for ….

Last Tuesday, the fourth of December was a normal day for our company workers until lunch. Thereafter things changed dramatically when a sudden large fire, blazed uncontrollably for hours, to raze down almost all the company’s chemical stocks, fixtures and fittings and a large part of the building. Fortunately there were no injuries but a neighbour collapsed and had to be hospitalised for a few hours.

The good work by the fire brigade, the patience of the policemen and the CID officers on site, the effective control by the police of large mobs intending to begin a looting spree, the prompt arrival of insurance surveyors, the great work by our employees to salvage whatever was possible and the kindness of our neigbours to give us their office space for an emergency staff meeting was heart-warming.

Also gratifying was the support by well-wishers. While the building was still ablaze two offers were received for free use of city godowns and by the time the fire was finally brought under control the next day, no less than 450 messages of sympathy were received by telephone, email, in person, by hand-written letters and even by cell mail. This support was gratifying and helped inspire us to fight against the situation we were in. Such empathy by others in today’s competitive world where businesses and individuals thrive to excel over each other helps to alleviate the intensity of one’s troubles tantamount to getting rid of problems in a pocket full of holes!

In life we all face obstacles and while some are minor, others loom like ominous clouds, shaking even the bravest souls. How we handle these situations determines the course of our life. If we handle such situations with fear and anger it becomes difficult to make rational judgements and as a result it becomes difficult to revive oneself or one’s business after one has been brought down. For those who are afflicted and remain gloomy, their depressing outlook ultimately controls their personality and this often leads to a lifetime of misery.

An old adage tells us that every cloud has a silver lining. If one adopts a positive stance and reacts with acceptance and calmness, the situation can be exploited to enable one to face any challenge with hope and heart. Irrespective of the odds against you, there can only be gains after you have been hit by a catastrophe. Moreover eclectic wisdom proves that many times obstacles are our best teachers because these shine their light on our strengths, remind us of the areas we need to improve, show us to have faith in God and ourselves and teach us to learn to accept that some things are actually beyond our control even if we have taken prescribed safety measures.

When the fire razed and after, we met various organisations related to the incident while at company level an emergency meeting was held wherein senior staff were allocated responsibilities to put the company back into operation. Locations were identified from where the company could re-introduce it’s services, stock re-order plans were forecasted, our contract client portfolio was attended to, administrative action points were divided into level of priorities and urgent consignments were expediently cleared from the port. At the same time liaison began with the police, insurance agents and assessors, the pesticides board, the environmental council, the city fire brigade, the media and the landlord among others.

Three days after the incident, on Friday, operations commenced once again and beginning last Monday the company is functioning almost normally. God’s grace and the inspiration that we received from our well-wishers coupled with the enthusiasm and positive frame of mind that was adopted by our workers helped to put the company back into business in just three days despite the fire that even threatened to write off the company. Come January and the company will be launching a new toilet seat sanitiser service for Tanzanians with a clear message that opportunities often come disguised in the form of misfortune or temporary defeat!