While at the airport (I am still in transit) I have come cross some of my earlier home photos in my laptop dating as back as the 80s and 90s and they really depress me.In those days there were no phones ,computers,TVs et.c or did i not just know that they were there?
I do not want to accept that I was once mainly a goat herder, because my father had 4 cows and 10 goats that he inherited from my grandfather When I was in grade 5 (I was 10 years old then) my father gave me the responsibility to take care of the 4 cows and goats ;and I didn’t like this job. The animals were taken care by my father in the morning and as soon as I got back from school at lunch time I had to take over from him.I knew I didn’t want to live this life for good and I had to get out of the circle and out of that Ezondweni village, in Mtwalo, Mzimba.I loved school and in my small glas thatched house I had this hand written A4 paper (poster) which said “education is the way to the future” and I believed it .thank god I believed it .at that time I used to walk bear footed ,and new a lot of wild fruit in the bush which we were eating as we were helding the bush.I kept on playing to God –please give me the wisdom to become a primary school teacher –I used to love our teacher and he also fond of me as I was good at arithmetic and history.
Look at the picture of me standing while my brother is sitting, this one is from 1983.look at my grandfather and his ground children-we still have the same house. Look at my mum and dad holding my older sister who is now married. I remember my father had to sell one cow at a time for the family to get school fees and by the time I finished secondary school fees all the cows were gone and it was then that I started helping in taking care of the family
There were many other people who were in the same situation but did no get away from that village like me .
Was it because of my own effort that I am where I am today or was it because of the hand of god?.
I do not want to take the credit because I know God knew my destiny and gave me the wisdom to be where I am.
I wish I would pretend I did not go through that life and forget about it, but I can’t.
That is why I believe in those poor blind children I see in Zomba, and other communities, there is a potential that some of them may get out of poverty and be somewhere in future. Maybe an eye surgeon like myself or laywer or enginner .But they had to be inspired to work extremely hard.
We used to drink fresh cows milk straight from the cows tits (breasts) because we believed it had strong cream to make us fat and healthy
And here I am today only drinking low fat milk shake because I am scared of being fat
Are you inspired with my life? Or surprised that I went through that ?.
Email me!
2 comments:
Khumbo, as you know, I follow your blog, now and then. I especially was touched by this article. God rewards you with the results of your determination and effort. Your hard work paid off so that you can be an instrument in helping others. That's God Plan. You are who you are because of these experiences, family and all, cherish them.
"The old bad times" were necessary so that you can fully appeciate the Blessings you are now enjoying. Keep up the great work you are doing for the people of Malawi.
God Bless. May some of these memories bring a smile on your face especially seeing how far you have grown from the life in rural Malawi.
P/S...Maybe everyone's destiny is pre-determined?
I always often wonder about it myself. (How can a product of a Malawian villager (me) - be living a life far removed than that I knew growing up in Africa and happily married to another transplanted person from another Carribean country and now living in a very cold wintery country in North America. Destiny and God's plan? Perhaps.
Dorothy
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