Motherhood through community SERVICE
When I joined the British curriculum of education and had to take part in community service, I expected to play with children, sing songs, donate gifts and leave. This was because before getting hands-on experience, all I had for a frame of reference was the pictures I saw in newspapers and The Insyder and Pulse magazines. Pictures showing students from different schools smiling alongside orphaned children.
As a kid, when you look at those smiling faces and adolescent teens squatting down beside them, sharing the same joyful expression, you don’t get to know the work that was put into producing those happy faces.
I visited Angel Centre for Abandoned Children with my Rotaract team and I, for once, got to work in the kitchen. You don’t realize how incapable you are of cooking until you are on a time crunch, having to cook for fifty children.
I diced bell peppers and tomatoes. Tomatoes were a piece of cake, but bell peppers were more fun and complicated. Carrots were the challenge. There I was, slicing the carrots into circular shapes before cutting them in a cross (that was my attempt at dicing).
No sooner had I embarked on the second half of the carrot than an older team member hurried over in foolish amazement. I told her that I wouldn’t be able to do it in any other way.
“When you’re a mother of three hungry boys, you learn to do these things lest they eat you for breakfast,” she said and showed me how to correctly dice. It was difficult. I spent those minutes contemplating my life in the kitchen, as a mother and wife. There was strength that I had to build to do some of this chopping. Endurance and patience as well.
I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself and set food on the table that would make my children make fun of me. Children are very honest. They would tell me to my face!
After lunch, we got to spend time with the children. Some were clingy and sedentary while others were like bunnies hyped up on sugar. There was every variety. All beautiful, all angelic. I sat tucked into a chair with a little girl, watching the others play and couldn’t bring myself to fathom how a parent could abandon their child. I was surprised by my contemplation because before this, I was pro-choice and pro ‘give the baby away’. But as I sat there and looked at their angelic faces, I knew deep down, that every child is here to bless the world. That there is no way a baby is a mistake.
There may be some parents in special circumstances, incapable of nurturing a child. But abandonment to me, is just as inhumane as abortion. Leaving the Centre, I learned that community service isn’t only about uplifting hearts but also to learn more about yourself and the world and in turn, give you valuable lessons to shape the future.
Article by: Roosie Kuloba| Rotaract Club of The University of Nairobi
