ALL FOR A BETTER GOOD

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Life after marriage was indeed a “happily ever after”. After 15 years of marriage they already had 3 kids who had grown beautifully and were doing very well in school. What more could they ask for? Everything was perfect. Her husband had a high paying job and she had started a company which was doing excellent. Three cars were parked in their huge compound, life was indeed luxurious.
Looking at how far they had come and everything they had achieved, she was brought to tears. Ezra was about climbing the stairs to his room after doing the dishes when he saw his mum in bitter-sweet tears. She was not at all crying uncontrollably, after all, these were tears of joy and so they were the gentle type. Ezra was her eldest son. He walked up to his mother and looked at her intently. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize Ezra staring at her. “Mummy, anything the matter?” She was startled, that was when she realized her son’s presence. “Mummy is there a problem?” he asked again.

“No dear, no problem at all”, she answered. I was just reminiscing. Life has not always been this gloomy and comfortable, she continued. You had the opportunity to start school before age three but that was not same in my case. At age 10, I was now in primary 1. The only English words I knew then were “thank you”, “sorry” and “good morning”. It was difficult initially but I found my feet eventually and was doing quite okay even though I was one of the few students who walked barefooted to school.
I grew up in a fishing community so most of the people were fishmongers including my parents. I was the seventh of twelve children, there were so many mouths to feed so we all had to help in any little way we could. I have done almost everything before. Selling of water to weeding acres of land, fetching and selling firewood, trading in kerosene and a whole lot, basically anything that would fetch me money. I used to do all these before and after going to school. Anytime I earned something, I gave a part to my mother and saved the rest. Deep down I knew my parents loved us all very much but they just didn’t have the resources to meet our individual needs as expected.
When I was 17 I decided to go and stay with an uncle of mine who also lived in the same community. Even though I had to do the dishes of the entire family, and all other chores in the house single handedly, I was happy because I had the opportunity to learn how to prepare variety of foods since his wife was a caterer. I also had the chance to occasionally work with my uncle in his pharmacy.
I made it out of Junior and Senior high school with enviable grades but I didn’t have the funding to further my education. One other uncle said to me that the place of a woman is at home so I should be satisfied with the level of education I already had and think of starting a home of my own. I tried other sources but all to no avail so decided to start a business with the little money I had saved over the years. I was determined to take another route to the destination of success. My business boomed and I started travelling outside town to even deliver to people. It was during such trips that I met your dad and we eventually got married and moved to Accra.
We started life with little but together, we rose through the ranks and here we are. I am crying because my prayers have indeed been answered. All I went through was not in vain. Back in the days, I wanted to do well for myself so that my children wouldn’t have to struggle as I did.

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I can’t help but shed these tears of joy because I am privileged my dreams came true despite the odds.
At this time the tables had turned and Ezra was rather shedding tears. “Mummy, your source of inspiration then was your children but mine from now on will be to make my parents happy and proud so they can enjoy the fruit of their labor”, Ezra said and hugged his mum.