Lessons from my Grandmother : Life and Financial Freedom
Everything that life is, is the ultimate work of our choices. At the end of 2022, I had a tremendous amount of things to celebrate, yet it was the year I lost someone I loved with my heart and brain. She’s my grandmother, I call her my grand woman.
She’s a woman who raised me, I watched her life closely like how birds look after their nest.
Her gifts were those that money could never buy.An unwavering kindness and an inexhaustible spirit of sacrifice. You see, her kindness was not just nice words or cute smiles! She had tireless moments of sacrifice of her time, and energy just to see her grandchildren well. She woke up with the sun to serve us tea and prepared lunch for my brothers and I, often feeding me when sleep clung to my eyes. When I come from school, I’ll jump to her coach and braid her hair.
She loved gardening, cooking delicious meals and her house was full of guests. Some of the guests were my grandfather’s clients seeking legal help. She had this smell that reminds me of home, she was my home.
Before her last breath, she gave me a call, and she said nothing. It is as if the silence uttered words, my heart pounded heavily in the silence, and I ended up giving her a pep talk. I guess it was a goodbye. For the first time, I was ready to escort someone to death, if only death was a location. I would go and make sure she’s safe and then come back to life. But it doesn’t work that way.
This moment led me to reflect deeply on her life and its teachings, especially about finances and living fully.
When I started a family, one of my biggest concerns was our financial well-being. As I started family life, financial stability loomed large in my mind. Fears of job loss or insufficient clients clouded my thoughts. My husband, too, was navigating the uncertainties of a new business. In the middle of this change, my grandmother’s life educated me. I pondered over her modest earnings and her ability to always provide. How did she manage?
She never went to university or secondary school, yet she managed a life of financial stability through tailoring and small-scale farming. She worked tirelessly, selling produce and poultry from her farm. Her secrets were hard work, early rising, budgeting, and living below her means. Despite her modest education, her financial wisdom was profound.
From her, I learned that prosperity isn’t just about resources; it’s about focusing on growth, no matter how small the beginning. This mindset was key to transcending poverty. She was always busy, and even in her old and last days she would force herself to attend to her small home farm and livestock.
Her secret was in hard work, she was an early riser, and her daily routine started with cleaning the poultry house, and feeding the poultry, she had a maid to clean to take care of the home, although not always. Then she would go to her farm to water the vegetables, she rented her farm from the local government for decades.
She was also good at budgeting, living below her means, saving, and maybe not revealing how much she was making, so very few could ask her for money. But some of the unimaginable things she managed to do with her finances, were to build a home and even to buy many lands which she left for her three children. Her home was full of goodies, fruits and she loved hosting parties with her grandchildren every holiday without compromise or asking others for contributions. She loved to look good, if you met her, you would not believe that she can clean the poultry house.
After she passed away I learned that life doesn’t have to be stressful if you live with principles. This is especially from planning our lives, our finances, and our spending.
I think the secret to eliminating poverty is not getting a job or resources, the secret is to focus on growth. Whatever you have in hand make it grow, multiply it, increase it, expand it. Her approach to life was about growth and prosperity at any level. Whether it was nurturing ten chickens or expanding to a hundred, the focus was always on progression. This mindset, she demonstrated, was key to transcending poverty.
Most people complain about poverty because they have never had a chance to get an education, and those who have an education complain about not getting opportunities, funding, etc. Mr. Elibariki Shammy One of the speakers at our She’s Bold Network events said ‘ there is no problem of unemployment, the problem is people choose work. There is a prejudice that those who get White collar jobs have financial stability, but this is not always the case. Life is about principles, educated or not, if you understand and live the principles you will be successful.
Your time is limited, so make it worthwhile: while some of us are stuck in the past, worried about the future, living in people’s minds we are losing the only time we have, and that is the present. It is only in this moment you can live, live your dreams now. Steve Jobs said ” your time on earth is limited, don’t live someone else’s life. Live by your vision. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computers, Inc. in 1976, they had a vision of changing the way people viewed computers. Jobs and Wozniak wanted to make computers small enough for people to have them in their homes or offices.
Your life is a gift to others. Live as if the world depends on you as God has chosen you. Carry your life with a burden to serve others. This is the meaning of life. Your presence is a gift to someone, regardless of what you’re doing, do it with all your might.
It is easy to surrender to death when you have accomplished your task, your dream, or your desires. Death will not scare you. My grandmother had prepared for this moment, she arranged her succession plan, and in her last days, she gave away some of her belongings. She died satisfied. She even gave instructions on what she’ll wear when she passes away. May we not fear death, but live well until death is meaningless compared to the impact of our lives on other human beings.
May this year be a year that you’ll live an intentional life.