In Honour of my Mum

In this article I am honouring two mothers in my life; my late mum, Catherine and Eunice my wife.

Mum this is your day. You left us in June 2001, but I believe you are witnessing whatever I am writing from wherever you are.

Mum let me you know that, the day I got news of your passing on is the same day I got a letter of a scholarship to go to Belgium.

Cathy you were and you will remain special to me.

You did all what other most mothers do; that is carried me for nine months, gave birth to me and brought me up well.

In addition to those common roles, you did extra special things that I feel you deserve honour and respect. These special achievements are the ones that I want to remember in this special blog post.

Roofing our thatched house
When I was growing up, my parents were extremely poor. We lived in a grass thatched and mud walled huts. Poverty is not a crime; so I do not blame my parents.

Anyway, one night during a rainy season, my dad was not at home, rain water started sipping through the grass and dripping inside the house. It was at night, we could do very little about it. The only noble thing we could do was to place sufurias (aluminum cooking pots) on the floor to trap the dripping rain water.

The following morning, mum you went straight to look for thatching  grass to fix the leaky sections of the roof.

I remember that moment with a lot of emotions mum.

The day I was sent away from school
Mum you were a typical Merian woman. You often prepared fermented porridge for us. You did this by manually grinding millet and sorghum using a traditional grinding stone. Then you fermented the  ground stuff to make sour porridge.

One day, it was a usual school day. I woke up early took a ‘passport  bath’  (just wipe the face) and did as I usually did; walk or run to school bare footed.

Little did I know that the headmaster had a different plan for us that day. The school parade went on as usual. The headmaster was  usually the last one to speak. When it was his turn, he was armed with many sheets of papers. As I came to learn later, these sheets of papers contained names of all pupils who had fees arrears.

I had fees balance, so I had to go home that day.

When I reached home, I found you mum grinding millet using a grinding stone to make fermented porridge. I explained to you that I sent home due to fees balance.

Without wasting time, mum you stopped grinding millet and accompanied me back to school. You did not even take shower. You were determined mum. You never wasted time.

Your determination and will power was oozing.

You negotiated with the headmaster and I was allowed back in class.

Attending my graduation

I am sure this was your second time to go to Nairobi in your entire life-time. Not that you hated going to the capital city of Kenya, but it was because of your limited financial resources.

The first time you were in the city was in 1995 during graduation of my elder brother.

Mum, you struggled financially but despite your limitations, you educated us. On behalf of everybody in our family, I take this chance to thank you mum.

Contribution to Kenyan Economy and the World of Science.
Cathy, you are one of the few women who have really contributed to the Kenyan economy and science in an enormous way.

When I look back, by joining hands with our late Dad Arimi seniour, you educated all your 7 kids up to high school level and beyond. You did this despite the fact that you were never employed and never went to school.

Me and my brother Kim we were blessed to go to university. I have gone further to earn a well deserved PhD degree. This degree is dedicated to you mum.

Kim is a computer engineer. His skills are transforming world in his own area of expertise.

One of your sons is seniour officer in Kenya Airforce. This is an honour to you mum.

Mum, you have helped bring up two qualified teachers. My brother, Geoffrey is a respected Mathematics and Physics teacher in Gikurune High School.

My sister, Martha is also a teacher who is modeling life of kids in Meru in a great way.

Mum, I cannot forget to thank you for adding two great farmers; Peter and James to the agricultural sector of Kenya.

Having contributed all these people to Kenyan economy and world as a whole is great achievement mum. I award you my Nobel prize of achievement.

Events that I wish you were there to witness

1. 9th September 2001 when  I was taking my flight to Belgium for Masters degree.

2. 17th December 2005 when I was tying the knot.
3.7th December 2009 during my PhD degree graduation.

The Best Advice you gave me mum
Never to buy the first car before owning personal land/house. I add to this mum. To keep your legacy, I will not buy the second car without owning the second piece of land/house.

Honouring Eunice.

This mother’s day, I wish to honour you Eunice, my dear wife. For the last 9 months you have been a wonderful mother.

You have had many sleepless nights. You had many hectic days.

You have managed two tasks that only few people can handle concurrently; You are a young mother and a PhD candidate. I know very well that these two tasks are not easy.

I pray for God’s grace to always be with you.

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Tagged as: inspirational, mother's day