Money became an issue. Since she had spent all her money on the plans and preparations to depart, and had resigned from her job. She had to start from scratch. Job hunting and feeding the family. The landlady was very considerate and did not pester her with rent arrears. It was my final year in grade 8 and my sister Grace in high school.
I did not have text books until later in that year. I managed to finish school but was not given my leaving certificate because I had school fees arrears. My niece and nephew had it rough. They were constantly being kicked out of school because of fees. There was a full year my niece Jessy stayed home. It was really sad. So now my big sister was to take up my fees for high school. I finally got my results and knew the school I had been called to. It was the sister school of my primary and it was not far from it either. I had really wanted to go to a boarding school so that I could concentrate on my studies but my mum refused, reason being that there would be no one to visit me since she was getting too old to travel a lot.
So the day arrived to go ask my big sister, Pamela, to pay my fees. We went with my mum and my uncle. This was to be my first time to see her. We reach her house and are welcomed warmly. We all sit and my mum explains the reason for our visit. My sister immediately refuses to hear anything of it and tells my mum that she will not pay the fees. My mum starts crying and my uncle quickly intervenes and tells my mum it’s not wise to cry in front of her children. She courageously recovers and says that we need to leave. I will never forget that day because I could not believe that my sister could do that to her mother. I later discovered that Pamela had a very lucrative job at the UN and was well able to support me with my education.
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