I Love Grandmas

Grandmothers are amazing. I say this from my own experience with my own grandma, and from watching grandmothers work tirelessly to make sure their children and grandchildren have a place to sleep and food to eat. I look at an older woman here and can only imagine what she's been through. How many children has she lost, how many grandchildren? How many orphans is she looking after right now, and how is she able to find enough food to feed them all? And yet these grandmothers always seem to be smiling. I met an old woman in a village, all but one of her children had died, and she was looking after her 8 orphaned grandchildren, on her own, with no income at all, and their food coming from the plot of maize a short walk away. The unfortunate part is that her story is not unique, or even the worst one I've heard. However, she's doing the best she can with what she has, and she is showing those kids love that they may not have known otherwise. And she greets us with a huge smile and proudly shows us around her home, even offering us some fruits or groundnuts if she has any handy. She is quite inspirational in many ways, and I learn a lot from her, things I never could have learned in my comfy developed country. I look at the grandchildren she's raising, wearing tattered clothing and walking barefoot. An older girl greets me in English, and I learn that she has just completed grade 7. She won't be going to school this year, there's not enough money for that. She's 18 now, it won't be much longer until she is married and a mother herself. Her options are limited. Does she even have options? I remember being her age; worrying over what clothes to wear to school that day, finishing applications to university, driving home from basketball practice in my very own car. How different our worlds are…