I never knew God’s plan for me would’ve been this amazing until now that I look back and see all that I have accomplished through Him. After three long months of boarding school, my seven siblings and I were surprised with the news from my dad that we were going to go visit our “[cucu] sho-sho”–grandma. Our grandma lived in “shags”–a conservative area in Kenya.
By Wairimu Kimani for Made Into America
The mud homes and the smell of “nyama choma and kachumbari” meat and tomato salad that my siblings and I smelled from her home made us excited to go eat and play in the farm all day with our family. As we roamed through “shags,” we would see children as young as 3 begging for food on the dirt soil, and busy people selling goods and materials throughout the streets of Nairobi. Years past and I graduated from Kenyatta University majoring in Literature and welcomed my new adopted sister, Munane, to the family. Since she was adopted into the family after a hard life of neglect from her mom, we had to teach her basic skills that she never had the opportunity to learn. Soon after, my siblings continued on with their lives in Kenya, but I didn’t really know what I wanted for my life.
One day, my friend Lidia told me she had a job for me at a bank in the Netherlands. I decided to book a ticket, and the day before I left, something in my heart, in my soul told me I should not go. I felt this was all too sudden. I was going to leave my mum and my family. I couldn’t do that. I talked to my mum and she told me I needed to leave, not to the Netherlands, but to America.
I said,“But mum, I don’t even have a job there yet, what am I going to do?”
She had told me, “Wango [my Kikuyu tribal name], you are my third daughter, and you are ready.” From there, I decided to go. I took all my savings and all I could carry in my small black suitcase, and I left. I needed to go and figure out what I wanted for my future.
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