WONDER WOMAN

At just over five feet tall, she is the kind of woman that you see on the street and know to move out of her way. Her demeanor is strict, her hands tied with thick black veins, criss­crossing over her long, strong fingers.

I remember holding her hands as a child, how delicate and soft they seemed and yet that never made them seem any less worn or sturdy. Her hands told stories of struggle and hardships. She had grown up ages before  i ever came to exist, in a different generation, at a different time, in an era and a life that I would never know.

Growing up under her made me the man I am today.I thought it was her  being cheap but as I grew older, I realized that she wasn’t teaching me about money, but about tradition and hard work and family. The money was insignificant, I would probably spend it on some meaningless snack or toy that I would lose soon after, it was the meaning behind her gifts that mattered. It was her saying, ‘I love you; I am your family and I want you to work hard as your family has before you.’

She inspired me to be something great one day and to never give up trying. Though she may be growing into her elderly years she has lived a very challenging, joyful, loving and successful life. She is a woman of great faith and character, she is my granny.

I see her every day. I see her in the women around me and in the mirror. She lives with me, inside me, and in the legacies that I will create. And I know, she will be proud for as long as she lives.
Mary Wambeti Rugano, my grandma.