The legacy she left to her children and grandchildren

Kim never saw her grandmother but she was brought up by her aunts and uncle, living in different yard. She lived with her mother and her little brother in a clean two-roomed house with no electricity and used a candle as a source of light and paraffin stove to cook. Sometimes they used wood to save parrafin.

Kim had cousins of her age at her grandma’s fluffy crumb house; it was a two-roomed house built with bricks that were eroded, ‘weather beaten’. It was so clean and bright with lights and it had a small television that they watched movies on sometimes. Grandma died early and left her small children to grow up on their own. They were seven including a new born baby.

The house had holes inside on the floor and fluffy walls leaving dust inside the house. This was the legacy she left for her children, at least they had roof over their heads to protect them against harsh weather conditions. The yard was so big and she had plenty of people to spend time with. They had to share whatever was available, no matter how small it was. They shared a piece of bread, every cent and snacks they had. They had to stand together and love one another.

The elders would prepare some porridge and a pack of chicken feet to feed everyone. The packet had to serve fourteen people living in the three roomed-house. The kids had one feet each and soup with large portions of porridge. The adults would have two or three depending how many big ones were left.

Some days they gathered in an incompete room with a mbaola and listened to aunties telling their stories and how they lived.

“Shame poor orphans,” said Kim while listening to the stories.

Nothing was inspiring but lots of blame games that one could not judge. Kim had some time to have fun with her cousins and everyone had fun and would not worry about the house. Everyone felt safe.

Then one day someone asked where Kim stayed. She explained and gave directions to her grandma’s house and the person said, “Stop stop fussing and rolling your tongue! Just say you live there in that house built with eroding biscuits!”

That didn’t bother Kim, she was not shy about her background. It was not her house but her grandma’s house so she had no reason to feel guilty but proud about her grandma’s house.

Tell us: What do you think of Kim’s story?