"The past is sometimes your strength" #ulog entry no.5

I came upon this photograph of my late father holding me as a small child - and although I cannot remember that particular day, it brought back many other memories of my childhood.

I was the youngest of five girls and was born in what used to be Rhodesia.
We lived on a farm and very seldom did my dad take us into town - we ran around bare foot ( hated shoes) and our toys were few.

This never affected us as there was always something to keep us all busy and happy.There was always plenty of good food as it was all grown on the farm.

A tragic event happened which I will not go into except to say my one sister was shot and died at the age of fifteen.
This event smashed our family into pieces and we were all affected in different ways right through to adulthood.
However, I do believe that we all became stronger as a result of it.

As I look back onto my own children's younger days, I can recall a period when we were living in Durban and the economy took a huge slump - jobs were scarce, food expensive and we were battling to keep food on the table.
If one of my children became ill, I used to feel desperate as I knew that there was no money to spare for doctors etc., - there were many times that I would sell things in order to feed my family as well as many times that I would go without meals in order that there would be enough for them.

However, we made it through those hard times and today I can proudly say that all of my children are the better for it.
The one memory that we all laugh about today is how I would cook "samp and beans" for dinner and tell them that it was real cowboy food that would make them grow up to be strong!