A Mother s love letter

To My Unborn Child

A wise black man said that we complain that this generation has lost its way yet we do not take time to document our way of doing things so that for generations to come they have reference of who we are as a people. On the other hand white people have no problems documenting everything and passing it on to the next generation. Today my child in the spirit of documenting our history l have decided to take a different stance and tell you about the first love l ever received, A MOTHER S LOVE.

About a couple years ago my dear cousin came up with this idea that on her mother s birthday she would buy herself a cake as a way to remember her mother on the day she was born. Mind you no one else really does this (as ridiculous or genius as it sounds depending on your view l too have adopted this idea). l wanted to remember the good times we had and the good woman she was .In the spirit of celebration me and my siblings turn up (like we need an excuse to do this, anyway this is a good time not to watch calories).l blame the patriarchy for that (story for another day).As we celebrate we share some good and funny stories about mom which l am about to share with you.

One of the distinct stories that l remember about Madawu (as most people referred to her) is how she would stand up for me no matter what. One day it so happened that l broke my aunt s glass and l was very terrified to tell my aunt. Madawu noticed

how scared l was. She Looked at me and told me she would take the blame and that l should not worry myself. It relieved a lot of stress of a nine year old and might l add l slept like a baby. I probably did not comprehend the selfless nature of that woman back then, but when l look back l do appreciate the love and care. Now as much l have Madawu s resemblance(gap between our teeth) l am not sure l can promise to take the fall for u every time (do not let that corrupt you..l have different parenting styles in mind)

There are times l felt she didn’t love me especially when it came to doing the chaos around the house, guess what mom they paid off. Like she would say “mntanami awufi ngokugezisa imiganu” (my child you will not die from washing the dishes)l still am standing today. She was typical African mom who would give you the look when there where visitors(it’s what the millenniums and generation Z would call the side eye)the look would make you set your priorities straight and stop asking for visitors food or blabbing too much or sometimes it meant you simply had to leave the room.

She would make me iron my own clothes just so l would learn to iron, as a nine year old l loved watching TV (who didn’t like cartoons like the Adventures Blinky Bill…my child you might need to Google that) so one day as l was multi-tasking (watching television and ironing) l burnt one of my favourite skirt instead of Madawu shouting she laughed and continued with her choes.It left me puzzled and laughing too as l learnt my lesson multi-tasking sometimes can go wrong.

These are just a few stories about my first love that l thought l share with you today.