Abdifatah Abdi My Mother In my family we are four children, three boys and one girl. Our parents contributed a lot to our wellbeing as we grew up, and our living situation would have been difficult without their involvement. Even though both of my parents played a parallel role in raising us, I argue that nothing is more important than my mother because she always showed an extra concern that my father did not. One of her concerns was spending most of her time in attending to our needs. She tirelessly helped and provided all necessities that her needy little children cried for. Unlike my father, who did not take part in providing many services that we, as little children needed the most, such as the daily personal hygiene, feeding and so on, my mother was the only one that did all the essential things that we poor children needed. She did everything she could to provide for her children and to eliminate all that stood in the way of her children’s safety and wellbeing. Additionally, my sweet mother did not get bored by handling the same child tasks, which she carried out every day, but she rather enjoyed and wholeheartedly felt happy for helping out her children. She believed our lives were more valuable than gold and diamonds, and that was a good example for how my mother dedicated her life to our wellbeing. Although, I cannot ignore all the energies and efforts that my father put in our lives, I definitely insist that my mother’s influence in our lives is bigger. She contributed more important expertise and hard work. Furthermore, though she was an illiterate woman who never had any formal education, she was knowledgeable like a scientist and thoughtful like an artist. She worked hard to gain knowledge in Somali ancient traditional wisdom. She had natural innate skills and the ability to make a diagnosis when we got sick. She also developed some traditional herbal medicines which she made from famous plants in East Africa. In addition, she used the herbs to treat viral or a bacterial diseases that attacked her children. For instance if we got minor injuries she would mix some water with “Malmal” (a traditional medicinal plant) and apply it to the affected part of the body. Malmal reduces swelling and heals the wound quickly. If we got flu, she mixed honey with lemon and gave it us to drink in order to get rid of the flu virus. My mother was also a marvelous traditional healer when we suffered from constipation, or stomach disorder. She mixed a little portion of “Sibir” (another medicinal plant) with water and gave it to us to drink before meals. Sibir helps to remove all the waste in the bowels. Apart from the above, my mother was a creative artist and the biggest financial contributor of our family through the sale of her artworks. She made use of her innate artistic talents and wove innovative household materials such as carpets, beautifully decorated bed covers and baby cloths. She made her own store and got a good market for all of her creations. My mother remained a very integral person in my life even after I became a grown and an independent man, and when she passed away last year, I was really devastated. When she got into the car accident that killed her, I travelled to the US where she was living at the time. The accident had given her a few days to nurse wounds on the hospital bed. It was really sad for me to watch her painfully die like that while I was helplessly sitting next to her. She was my hero and I always needed her in my life. I always turned to her for advice and support. I think that, though I was a grown man, in my relationship with my mother, I was partially still that little boy inside- that little boy who was completely reliant on his mother. My mother’s motivation in life was always to take good care of us. I do not mean to say that my father never cared for us, but my mother went an extra mile to sacrifice herself for us. She taught herself traditional medicine and arts for our family’s sake. When she started using her artistic ability to produce carpets, it was not easy for her. The materials she used were difficult to obtain, and weaving them was a very slow and difficult work that required a lot of endurance. In a nutshell my mother’s efforts in raising us has contributed a lot in who I am today.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 02:55:56 +0000
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