I was talking with a prospective faculty member for our university last week. He is doing post-doctoral research in Chemistry, and seems to be a gentle, quiet man. Knowing he grew up in Kenya, I asked more about that."I grew up in a small town in western Kenya," he told me.
"What tribe are you from?" I asked.
He smiled. "Luo tribe," he said. I think he liked it that I know that one's tribe is important.
"How did you happen to get from a small village in Kenya to here?" I asked. "How did you come to get so much education?"
"I grew up in a very poor family," he said.
Having traveled in Kenya, I could picture it. People here wouldn't be able to picture just how clearly "poor" means having nothing in Kenya. Maybe a hut. A sleeping platform with one piece of woven cloth to cover you. One pot or pan to use over a little fire for cooking. Flies crawling around your eyes.
He continued. "Neither of my parents went to school. But they made their children go to school. I observed, and I noticed that when you go to visit other people, the people who can afford to put sugar in their tea are the ones who have education."
And so, noticing the sugar in the tea, he pursued an education. And the doors of opportunity opened up from there.
The old song: It's work all day for sugar in your tae, down beyond the railway. It's amazing to be motivated by a bit of sugar and shows how some of us take things for granted.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a simple but powerful motivator.
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