She Is My Hero

[STOIC]

Close to a decade ago when I came to America I was part of a large wave of Somali refugees who came with sponsorship. During the process I happen to get acquainted with families whom we shared the same flight to Atlanta. There was this old Somali lady whom was designated as a mother of one of the sponsorship. The old lady was in her mid fifties at the time. Yesterday I happened to cross path with the old lady. I haven’t seen her since the first few years of our arrival. I used to be worried how she was going to adapt to the fast world of North America. A place where money has to be wooed and won by speaking the language, how in the world was she going to make it in America. She didn’t spoke a word of English. She wasn’t related to the folks she brought as a mother in the sponsorship. I was worried how she was going to make it when the patience of the good Samaritans run out or the little energy in her dissipated when she hits sixties!

 

Yesterday I was impressed with the accomplishment she was able to acquire through hard work and prayer. She was able to pay for her son to come to Canada. She built a house in Africa, and to top it off she sent her relatives to Hajj. The giant will she created in her mind was one that floored my mind. I fully realized that no one can stop the will of an elderly person. I discovered that she was still working at the same factory she was hired when she came to America. I know for a fact that her accomplishments were not born out of laziness. I miscalculated the genius that slept in this old ladies mind when I first met her a decade ago. Yes she has never seen the four walls of a classroom, but she has accomplished far more than a college graduate like me. Specialized knowledge of the real world and imagination is what went into the mind of this old lady. I foolishly believed that her age and language barrier was going to hinder her success in America. I now believe that courage backed by hard work transmutes itself into success.

 

All the fear I had for her was reduced to nothing more than a state of mind. I was afraid of her facing poor health, poverty and old age in North America.I guess I didn’t knew enough of her indomitable qualities when I guessed the quality of her life in North America. As I was busy getting to the future, this old lady has achieved more than I ever did.I could feel the energy filled in her body as we pulled to her apartment.I wondered where she will be in the next decade.Will she go back home to Somalia and live a lavish life? Will she bank her retirement pension while she lives a modest life in America.I could still feel dejavu in me a decade ago while she was advising me to get married quickly and start a happy family.I would be deluding myself if I said that she didn't changed the way I view people the moment she waved at me as she entered her apartment.

 

 

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

[chubacka]

Good 4 her marshallah she sounds like a cool lady :cool:

[Hawdgirl]

Awlugooye,

 

Never underestimate the power of human beings regardless of age and gender

I bet the lady taught you a lesson!

Not knowing the language of the inhabitants of the place that one calls a home can be difficult at times, but there're millions of immigrants in America who make ends meet, actually live better than those who are proud degree holders but never get the job they wish and hope for.

In your mind you may think that these are illiterate individuals and feel sorry for them,

but in reality they may have many assets that college graduates don't posses,

You wanna know one big difference between that group and the other group- the so called degree holders- the degree holders think about buying newer cars, dressing to impress while the other grou think only of helping those who are less fortunate and most of all investing for a future.

One example buying a 2008 car and driving here in qurbo land especially in one of the snowy states where it'z so easy for the car to get rust vs. buying a house back home, sending an elder relative to hajjka those are the best investments

that anyone could make for here "xayatu dunyaa" or for "aaqiro" the here after.

 

Waslaam walaalo

and never underestimate,

never ever!

[Som@li]

Masha Allah, Some old somali women are amazing.

[Skipper]

As the saying goes "where there is a will there is a way" Awlugeye jsut for the sake of comparing, how far have you come since you came to USA? Are you where yuo wanted to be by now?

[STOIC]

Skipper,

 

As a man who is a master of his own earthly destiny I have came a long way since I first landed in North America. As I analyzed my experience in retrospect, I have found myself short of many life dreams while at the same time happy with my life! I haven’t accomplished anything close to the old lady. For someone who is in her age she has accomplished far more than I did in the last decade.

 

Yes I have changed in many ways both the way I carry myself and the way I view the world. I no longer need fear to avoid unnecessary danger . The fact is that I have grown both spiritually and mentally from a boyhood to manhood. All the desires I hold onto my mind a decade never materialized, but I fully realize that no wealth or position can make me happy. As we all agree the starting point of all dreams are desires I am still holding and hoping to break through one day . For a long time I have hold to the dream of thinking everything worthwhile is in the future, but unlike the old lady I have failed miserably in understanding that life is what you make out of it.

[Som@li]

^Very good, Insha Allah, You will fullfil all your dreams in time, this lady reminded of another old lady who is a relative of mine, though she never want to school, she is gifted businesswoman, if you give her $100, within a short time she wil make alot of money from it, she was into business aslo back in Somalia, but went to States within nothing,and now she is a millionaire,retired, and back home, Masha Allah.

[Skipper]

Awlugeyee you are a top person really. Dream is there to be fulfilled at time in your life span and i hope you will get to realize them one by one. To have something to hope for and have desires is what keeps us going.