By Sylvester Oluoch
There is hardly a perfect way to describe the African woman – she is a giant by strength and a dove by her reassuring coo. She is mama. Today, the African Women’s Day, is a day that we can choose to commemorate variously as per the passion the African woman stirs in each of us. This day, 31st July, is the day we celebrate the custodian of conscience and integrity – the African woman.
To understand the African woman, you need to ask the question: Who is the quintessential African woman? And what does she represent to you personally?
The African woman is manifest in the unsung heroes – the never seen or the forgotten – and they dot every hamlet, hillside, valley, and plateau stretching from the Sahara to the Kalahari.
I know two gentlemen whose lives reflect the magical powers of the African woman. It is easy to see how the African woman is a true concierge of faith. The exacting power of belief that these women demonstrate is a clear picture of what makes the African woman the catalyst of growth and the lifeline of the village. She is the conscience of society – the “dead peg” on which the community’s ethics are tethered.
Raphael, a fine medical doctor is a tale of one African woman who found a way for her son to reach the stars against much improbability. Raphael was born to a mother who could neither read nor write. But she believed in the possibilities of the generous universe that would buoy her boy if she did her part. Through menial labor and sheer faith, she put Raphael through primary school and the generous world took care of the rest.
Dennis, a boy of great promise was admitted to a great school. His family resources were picayune. With a father who had no gainful employment, and a mother who was unemployable in the conventional sense, his chances were ranging between slim and none. However, the mother’s love was sufficient. She was determined that the future of Dennis was in her stiffening her backbone.
Dennis tells how his mother tilled land for a menial’s pay. Some days from dawn to dusk until she put him through high school. Dennis later became a Fulbright scholar and even taught romance languages in a prestigious university in the United States of America. It was the faith and determination of a mother that made all the difference.
The African woman is many things. It just depends on what you choose to see.
Industrious. From the time the African woman wakes up to the time she goes to sleep, the African woman stays on task. From cleaning to cooking to tilling the land. If you can think of it, she does it.
Resilient. The experience of hardship in most circumstances has, in many ways, brought out the best in the African woman. She hardly focuses on the defeat, but rather takes the lessons in stride.
Disciplinarian. The African woman works out the mechanisms to ensure discipline for personal growth of the family. She leads by example.
Harmonious. A lot of African homes that enjoy perfect harmony peg such harmony to the settled mind and cool head of the “silent matriarch.” The leadership of this women is hardly visible for they pull. They do not push.
Drill Sergeant. When a need arises, because individuals have fallen short in pushing themselves towards their limits, then mama switches places and leads from behind. That time, it is determined that pushing is more practical than pulling. And the push always gets the results.
Trainer. The African mother – that African woman – hardly brings fish to her children. She teaches them to fish. In every chore, the African woman remembers that she is not completing a task, she is raising a boy into a man, or raising a girl into a woman.
