Before the war, Jonathan had been a miner with the Coal Corporation.  After the war, he and his family turned to a variety of odd jobs to survive.

Jonathan had managed to hold on to a valuable possession during the war - his bicycle.  He had buried it so that it would not be stolen or confiscated, and when the war was over, he dug it up again, finding to his delight that "all it needed was a little palm-oil greasing" to regain its functionality.  Once he got it in good working condition again, Jonathan put the bicycle "to immediate use as a taxi and accumulated a small pile of Biafran money ferrying camp officials and their families across the four-mile stretch to the nearest tarred road".  After he had made "a small fortune of one hundred and fifteen pounds" in this manner, he and his family returned to their village, Enugu, and with the money he had saved, repaired the house they used to live it so that it was comfortable once again. 

Resuming their lives in Enugu, Jonathan's children "picked mangoes near the military cemetery and sold them to soldiers' wives for a few pennies...and his wife started making breakfast akara balls for neighbours in a hurry to start life again".  Jonathan himself took part of his family's earnings and journeyed to neighboring villages buying palm wine, which he mixed with water at his home.  He then opened up a bar "for soldiers and other lucky people with good money".  All in all, through their initiative and hard work, Jonathan and his family were able to take care of themselves quite well after the surrender.