MY FOUNDATIONS ARE SOLID...Tribute to my grandparents

Today I really miss my grandparents, and it got me thinking of how phenomenal and amazing they were. Birthed and raised 7 children and  

many grandchildren, I realized that superman had many faces. In essence, my grandparents raised me because my mom was young when she got me and she was working on her career.

My earliest memory of my grandfather was when he came home from work (he used to own and drive taxis) and he had bought me tea and cups toys. The picture is very vivid in my head as I replay it. He was such a strict man who owned a gun, although I got to see it after he passed away. He has this whistle that one could hear from the corner, so all of us would use it as warning every time we were up to mischief.  What a smart dresser he was. His love for music was matched by his love for sweet stuff and we would drive around in his clean, white car while playing Jazz. (He would be so proud of me that I have acquired a taste of Jazz too).  

My mom would leave very early for work, so my grandfather prepared me for school. Every morning when I woke up, I was met by motogo wa ting le tee ya mashi a bidisitsweng (Breakfast in bed, we’ve been having it) and he would walk me to school daily. The experience of raising 7 kids showed off. When I came back from school, I’d be met by lunch and one piece of chocolate, yes the slab would last us a week, that’s if my aunt didn’t find the stash. In the evenings, we would all chill in the dining room and they would feed my forever inquisitive mind with the stories of old and each time they didn’t want me to know things, they would speak in Afrikaans. For the longest time I thought I was the last born of the family and that I was a special child who had 2 mothers and one super father.

Now my grandmother was a very strong woman. I would be eternally grateful if I were to become half the woman she was. When I was a child, I would marvel at how women in the community would come to her for counselling and resolve in hard matters. She was quite adept in problem solving. My grandmother was very intelligent, bold and feisty, a paragon of society. I really take my personality from her (although I sometimes think mine is exaggerated). Both of them were elders in church, my grandmother being Mother’s union leader and my grandfather a Deacon and councillor, so church attendance was not up for discussion. So we all went to church every Sunday without fail. “No one knows God until someone introduces us” I owe my introduction to God to both of them. I have yet to see selflessness in serving like the one my grandparents possessed.  

I'm still in awe of how both of them were so good together. How my grandfather handled my strong, loud grandmother and she managed to be submissive with that kind of personality. I think about both of them and I realize that I'm standing on the solid foundations that they laid.  How they laid down their lives so that we can have a comfortable life. Both of them were intentional about leaving a legacy that will last for generations. They were both graced in leadership and influence and I'm grateful that I bask in their grace. Their aura made the Musi family a respectable home in the community, that to this day, they are not forgotten. I am thankful for such amazing super-people.

It was on a Tuesday morning when my grandmother died. I was woken up to come see her for the last time as she lay peacefully in her bed. Next to her was a cup of tea. My grandfather told me that she woke him up at 5am and asked him to make her a cup of tea. When my grandfather came back, she was gone. I have never seen my grandfather so lost and weak. His Nontsokolo had left him without a warning. What he known for more than 40 years was over. He never recovered after that, 2 years later he died at hospital.

I pray for a love like theirs. Unconventional in its meeting and intentional in it's working out. I have been blessed with a lifetime of legacy and fountain of grace.

 

 

Mokwena Mongwatse

Legadimana ntweng

Ga le ja ga le gadime

Baphalanyane tsa motlatla

Bakwena le dinkokwane le se banyana

Pitsa ya mochoko ga enke e fallwa

Ba re e ka ya bola e bolle