My Mother

When I opened my eyes to mother earth, I was welcomed by velvet hands; loving and compassionate full of concern eyes; a dashing heart-breaking smile; a sweet music like voice and a chest that matches no pillow beneath the sun. The arms that embraced me on that day were arms that exuded love. All I could say at that point in time was to cry. I was trying to respond to the written love my mother was showing me. She had all the strength to smile like that after such an excruciating experience; child birth. She had just delivered me in an ambulance before even reaching the hospital. A bumpy road rocked her back and forth, up and down until she could not hold me in anymore. Is it not amazing; is it not strikingly surprising that this woman could still hold me in her arms, draw me to her chest and rock me back and forth whilst the attendants were still working on her? Amazing! I could tell I was her jewel. I knew she would dare not trade me for anything in the world. Obviously, my eyes quickly familiarized with this gem that was cut from precious stones from faraway lands. My eyes beheld gold, silver, diamond, ruby, emerald all fused in this one and only special and precious woman in my life. That twinkling smile and that glazing spark in her eyes gave me no other choice or option but declare her mine. There and then I decided she was mine. Though I did not get the opportunity to bond through breast feeding, the love and care that I got from my mum, Lindokuhle, was enough to compensate for the lost warmth from her breasts……… Preview Texts (maximum 1,000 words): When I opened my eyes to mother earth, I was welcomed by velvet hands; loving and compassionate full of concern eyes; a dashing heart-breaking smile; a sweet music like voice and a chest that matches no pillow beneath the sun. The arms that embraced me on that day were arms that exuded love. All I could say at that point in time was to cry. I was trying to respond to the written love my mother was showing me. She had all the strength to smile like that after such an excruciating experience; child birth. She had just delivered me in an ambulance before even reaching the hospital. A bumpy road rocked her back and forth, up and down until she could not hold me in anymore. Is it not amazing; is it not strikingly surprising that this woman could still hold me in her arms, draw me to her chest and rock me back and forth whilst the attendants were still working on her? Amazing! I could tell I was her jewel. I knew she would dare not trade me for anything in the world. Obviously, my eyes quickly familiarized with this gem that was cut from precious stones from faraway lands. My eyes beheld gold, silver, diamond, ruby, emerald all fused in this one and only special and precious woman in my life. That twinkling smile and that glazing spark in her eyes gave me no other choice or option but declare her mine. There and then I decided she was mine. Though I did not get the opportunity to bond through breast feeding, the love and care that I got from my mum, Lindokuhle, was enough to compensate for the lost warmth from her breasts……… Lindokuhle loved and still loves her siblings as if they are her own kids. Grandma says she takes after both her maternal grandma Zothile Malophe and her paternal grandma Mary MaGampo. The gallant, interesting and full of drama life histories of these two ladies who inspired my mother cannot be buried forever. I have to tell it though briefly. Tracing their important lives will not only help me but all those who will have a chance of piercing their inquisitive eyes on the memoirs. Both these two instilled in my mother a sense of independence and self- dependency. She was taught to reach high and to dream deep. She was reminded time and again that stars lay hidden in her soul and that every dream precedes a goal. She was taught to focus for focus is the ability to stick to a task regardless of the distractions. When her age mates were jumping from one boyfriend to another, she was progressing from one grade to another. Focusing helped her to clear a path where there was none. Focus gave her fortitude to hang tough, to push through, to come back to the main thing and keep it the main thing. It kept her on the task at hand and prevented her life from drifting to mediocrity. Staying focused in her calling enabled her help others, like her sisters, to discover their calling. She could not do this alone. Two powerful women: great grandma and grandma were behind her all the time. When money for school fees ran out, it meant mum was to stay home and await a suitor to come her way. But grandma and great grandma could not hear of it especially when they woke up to mum’s teary and swollen face. They prayed to God to open a door for her………. Ndumo stood tall and handsome among the others in the singing group that had come all the way from Bulawayo to Ngungumbane School for the Camp Meeting. His tenor voice was heavenly. He stole the hearts of many including Lindokuhle’s that had been termed a hard nut to crack by many a young man who had tried to steal it. When her eyes locked with Ndumo’s, her pulse rate raced abnormally. What was happening to her body? For the first time in her life, she felt shy. That twinkle in Ndumo’s eyes, that smile that revealed the gap between his front teeth, and that jerking of the his head each time he was taking the lead in a song, evoked smiles and sighs from the congregation. Why he kept on flashing his smile and gaze towards Lindokuhle’s direction was cause for concern for many young ladies who had hoped they would get a chance to smile back at him. Lindokuhle felt uncomfortable. There were things she could not spell out that were doing some somersaults in her stomach. When the song presentation ended, there was a resounding applause. Lindokuhle joined in but her head was bowed down. She did not want to meet those eyes again. They seemed to search her and read her every being. When the clapping was dying down, Lindokuhle decided it was time to look up. First, she saw his freshly polished ox red shoes, then the pair of trousers, then a stretched out hand. Then she heard a rumbling voice: “Excuse me Miss Bakwena, please come and join us in our next piece”. “Amen! Go Miss Bakwena, Go! Go Miss Bakwena Go!” The congregation cheered and willed her on. It was clear they wanted her to show off their local talent. Lindokuhle had never been such a pack of nerves. She stood up and deliberately but tactfully avoided his hand. Why would she take a stranger’s hand? “Ah! But I don’t know the song you are going to sing.” Lindokuhle whispered. “You know it. Come on!” “GO, go, go” the congregation continued to cheer until she got to the podium where the other musicians were………….. I am who I am today because this woman sleeping here today sacrificed her happiness in order for me to eat, to go to school, to cover my body. I am who I am today because Mangwex taught me well and was my pillar and my strong hold………