Last night we attended a family function at my husbands aunts house to celebrate his cousin’s graduation. Said cousin’s parents had made the almost 12 hour, over 1000km drive to attend his graduation ceremony and to share their pride with the rest of the family. A mfundisi (minister) was present to pray over him, multiple speeches were made, stories of his upbringing told and copious amounts of food was eaten. This got me thinking – how did I celebrate my graduation?
After a couple minutes, I remember attending our universities graduation ball, receiving a pearl necklace from my parents and possibly going to a quiet dinner out with them. No public prayers, no emotional thanks to my parents, no big deal. I suppose it was always assumed, expected even, that I would go to university, pass and graduate without hiccup. No need to celebrate.
As I stood (in the kitchen mid way through dishwashing like a good makoti!) concentrating to try to understand at least 50% of the words spoke and piece together the stories told, I could only but feel such happiness and pride for said-cousin. What he achieved – getting to tech, making it through peer pressures and social norms and standing on that stage to graduate – is not the norm where he is from or in his demographic. He defied the odds and the pride in his parents eyes was just reward.
The mfundisi who prayed over his life and career also asked God to protect this investment that his parents had made in him, not only for our family but for the future of this country. No greater word was spoken all night – may we all be praying for strong, smart and solid leaders to emerge in this broken land of ours.
The Blonde Makoti 