“For Your Sake, I Will Never Speak Bad of Muslims or Dagombas” Tribute From Emmanuel to His Adopted Dagomba Mother on Mother’s Day

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My Tribute to “Mawawu” of Tamale on Mother’s Day!

Awaabu Musah popularly known as “Mawawu” will forever have a special place in my heart for the crucial role she played in my University education.

As a complete orphan, things were really tough in school for me and there were times I slept on empty stomach or ate only gari for two solid weeks. (My colleagues are reading this and can relate).

When we relocated from Nyankapla to the then new Tamale campus of UDS, I rented a room with my two other friends and it was then we met this wonderful family as co-tenants.

When things were tough in the middle of that trimester, she quickly realised it and could just gather for us some little things from her table business like sugar, tea bags and kulikuli. She served us tuozafi  every evening (the only reason we didn’t miss tz whiles away from home).

We wondered how she dared to touch her small business like that when that was her only source of income as her husband had lost his job at the time and looking for one as an excavator operator.

Mr. Musah himself would usually wait outside till late night knowing that we could go to sleep and leave our bicycles outside. He would park them into our veranda and close the gate for us before he goes to bed. I reserve his part for another day since we are doing mother’s today 😊.

When we dried our clothing and went for lectures, Mawawu would check on them and if anyone was torn, she would repair it with her sewing machine and park them nicely down for us. She won’t tell you about the repair until you found out.

We simply couldn’t understand the type of heart she had. She would even fast for us telling us how she doesn’t want our struggles to be in vane. I remember the first vacation she asked me to greet my parents and tell especially my mother that I had gotten a new Dagomba mother. When I told her I had lost both parents, she couldn’t utter another word but quickly turned her face away from me. I realised she got emotional and would cry if she attempted to speak again so I rather consoled her and left.

After one year, they relocated to around St. Charles area and we also relocated to village water area but this woman still located us and would send food every single evening to us through the son (Hakim) on a bicycle. We did all we could to stop her but she would reply that, “what if one evening we didn’t have anything to eat like she use to see us do?” And truly there was one evening the boy wasn’t well and no one was around to bring food, we slept on empty stomach that evening.

In fact, some days Mawawu’s food was the only meal for the day for us. Everyone around us wanted to know what kind of woman she was to us because they didn’t believe she was just a former co-tenant that cared for us that much.

This was a family of 7 that struggled on daily basis to feed itself from that small table business but still found the courage to sacrifice for some “elite university students” she knew from nowhere!

Today, it is this woman I choose to celebrate on the occasion of 2022 International Mother’s Day. On behalf your three adopted sons from Upper West Region where you have never been, I say God bless you and your family abundantly🙏🙏🙏!

For your sake, I will never speak bad of Muslims or Dagombas because you stand out when it comes to showing love to people who aren’t your tribe or religion❤!
I pray that your love for humanity will replicate on all your descendants yet unborn and may your Children rise far above where I have reached today. Amen! As you always told us, “Nyame woho”☝🏾😊

By Emmanuel Dery Kuusani, Nutrition Officer, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Kalba