Stories of my Childhood

As I celebrated my birthday the other day I found myself thinking back to the things that my parents taught me. Aw!!! It all makes sense now! It has come full circle.

My mom taught me unconditional love, to nurture people, love of faith and generosity; our home was always open to neighbors and we shared whatever we had with our cousins and neighbors' kids. My mom was the epitome of motherhood; she was generous of heart and constant of faith and evoked love in every gesture

My dad, Tata, which means father in my Kamba language has always been the disciplinarian, the planner, always neat and passionate about education. He also has a deep sense of humor and best story telling skills I wish I inherited. He didn’t go far in education, got to Class 6. What he missed in education he made sure all his 7 children made up for it and sent them to school religiously.

My father did not distinguish boys and girls. For us his 3 daughters he reminded us the best and First Class Honors husband he could guarantee us was our Education. He insisted that the Education husband will never abuse you, it would create opportunities that will make you money & buy you all the things you want & will be with you always until death do you part. He was right in so many ways!!!

My dad’s love was expressed through discipline and order; our entire household woke up at 5am everyday even on days where I felt it was unnecessary. My dad is now in his 90s, He is physically healthy and strong but mentally he has dementia and only his long term memory remains and he can narrate stories from the past and can barely remember a conversation you had yesterday. That’s an interesting and a story for another day.

The dots of what my parents were stitching all along are finally connecting…..

1. Education and knowledge is potential - you’ll need to ignite it.

2. Everything requires consistency & discipline; mental, emotional and physical.

3. Love and kindness; starting with self, your own family to extended community. You need people to lean on.

4. Have a plan; when you have a plan you may succeed, when you have no plan you’re guaranteed to fail; my siblings will chuckle at this one, we used to have family ‘Kamukunjis’ before back to school every term. We didn’t always look forward to it but with hindsight I see my dad was teaching us the art of planning, collaboration and goal setting all in one.

5. Always have faith that things will work out, anchor yourself in what keeps you grounded spiritually; to date my dad makes the sign of the cross every so often during the day and he mutters a prayer when you get home and when you’re leaving the homestead.

As I start another year I want to celebrate my family for being a strong support system whom without I wouldn’t be where I am or as strong as I am. I realize also some of deep rooted values are from my parents and for that I salute them, to my siblings let’s keep shining, to my nieces and nephews, I hope we as siblings model a love that you?can?emulate.