What If?

Growing up, I spent most of my childhood interacting with children or taking care of them. There’s an age difference of 6 years between me and my younger brother (Prosper) so the big sister syndrome caught up with me sooner than later. Because mother had to work and father was always on the road trading, I found myself going to school with Prosper and sitting with him in my class.

The idea of play school and kindergarten had not yet been revealed at the time and nannies were not an option for me to suggest then. My other siblings were in boarding school because of the classes they were in so I was the best option for his safety. He was a good boy who never cried at anytime as long as he had his cow (100 Uganda shilling coin) and also found going to school just for just a cool thing. School ended at 1pm and the rest of the hours were the play till you drop kind. We loved it!

Mother always gave me about 4 cows just in case; 3 of them were mine to buy kabalagala (pancakes) at break time. One day, Prosper lost his cow somewhere on our way to school. I did not know about it until after breaktime when he started crying in class“ente yange eri wa?”meaning (where is my cow?)
My neighbours were eager to know how a whole cow entered class until I explained. The search started for the lost cow but in vain. I then remembered that I had an emergency cow on me which I gave to him after a lot of caution. As I waited for a thank you and kisses for saving the day, Prosper said “kati singa ziweze bbiri” meaning (I would have had 2 cows by now). The audacity! I then asked him “what if I didn’t have the extra cow what would you have done;cried yourself to death?” Thank goodness he was soothed and we went on with our day.

When I look back at those times and other life events, I ask myself these  questions;What if there were better working conditions that allowed parents to go with their children to work  because the company provided a day care center for them then?What if I didn’t have a younger brother? What if I were the younger one? What if my school wasn’t kind enough? What if…. 

I am proud to say that these events were grooming moments for me. I learnt to care about others, I got my first knowledge about children from this experience and my love for children started then. I learnt to be responsible and to improvise. I learnt to love and  lived in every moment as it came. I am rather grateful for the kindness I received and challenged to be kind at all times. The world needs more of it than criticism!

What are your what ifs?Me and my not-so-young-anymore-brother.