Dear Diary,
I grew up in a house full of cousins and aunts and uncles. All them passed and some stayed in our home while schooling, working or some doing nothing. My parents were and still are public servants, and as it is a norm in a lot of countries public servants do not earn a lot, especcally the ones at a starting level. regardless, my parents took ther siblings and nephews and nieces in, and fed them, clothed them and paid for their school. I was still in primary school then
The situation never really bothered me, my parents succeeded to save enough to build a for bed room huse, one which they could do he finishing because money was scarce. I used to share my room with my little sister and up to three cousins at times, and somehow iI never realised thats not how we were really supposed to be living, that although my parents werent earning much, but being graduates their salaries would have very much enough to take care of their three children, send us to be better school and ofcourse finish our house on time. As I grew up, the crowd started to dispernse, my uncles grew up, and my cousins eventually ran out of the reasons of staying with us and they left. but the silence wouldnt last for ong because there was always someone new arriving at our doorsteps, and my parents welcomed them with open arms.
And now, 29 years later, we still have uncles and aunties and cousins living with us. It still doesnt bother me them being tere, and my parents can now afford to do everything considering that they have better positions now at work than before. Something bothers me though;
What bothers me is ungratefulness some of these people show to my parents. As a christian I know that we do good without expecting a reward because that is being a good christian. But I look at all those people who passed by as residents at our home at some point of their lives, some have very good lives, some are still struggling, but all of them, only one person and this is my father's younger brother is ever really grateful, and truly loves and appreciates my parents. The rest simply keep coming back for more help at the same time spreading really bad rumours about y parents, some even dare to complain that when they were staying with us the only food in the house was rice and beans. They do not stop even for a minute to reaise thatall the beans were because there was so many of them, and the only thing that my parents could really afford then was just beans.
And then it does not end there, We still have a few cousins staying with us, and today in particular i would like to talk about one. She is my maternal uncle's daughter. My uncle is a simple carpenter, he manages to carter for basic needs of his family, my mother decided to help with my cousin's education from the moment she completed primary school. Her secondary school results were not so good, so my mother and I looked for a way for her to continue with higher studies and we did. As fate would have it, although my cousin is two years older that my youngest sister they completed secondary eductaion in the same year, and together they were enrolled in a college. I feel that I should mention that I had never really stayed with this cousin of mine before that, and for whats worth I used to take her as a very nice and reserved girl.
Problems began as soon as they started schooling with my sister. Stories started to emerge that my mother was favoring my sister more than my cousin. My sister was pissed, but I always told her that blood is thicer than water. My cousin isnt as bright as my sister, so her grades have never been really good, but she still wasnt even taking school seriously, at some piont when they started their diploma I had to interverne and start following her up on her progress, because I knew if she failed my uncle who is a nice guy will have a burden. She completed the diploma and together they enrolled for their first degrees. Now here is where all hell broke loose, even though I sat down with them, explaind to them why and gave them all the reasons they should get along, the situation went from bad to worse. My cousin even started talking about my mu, saying really nasty stuff about my mum. When I was told, I did not want to believe that she could say such horrible things about te one person who has always had her back.
So I'll somehow defended her, hen I asked her, she gave me a different kind of story, and in that story even painting my sister as a villain. Im not saying my sister is an angel dont get me wrong, she was a teenager until recently so you can get the picture. But what Im saying is, my sister has a big hearts and lves to share, but even then my cousin wiould always find a way of aligning with the people who did not like my sister. I went to visit my mum recently, and she told me about the stuff that my cousin has being saying about her, everything rang true, because some things are family private things, the moment you hear someone mention such a thing you just realise thatwhat has been circulating all along has been true. My cousin has really been painting my mum as an evil bitc. It hurt me, and pissed me off. I flashedback to how we grew up, we could have had a better life but we grew up like that because my parents were helping people, and they still are. Its okay for those who never came back to say than you, but for people like this girl, this cousin, I am totally disappointed in humanity. I know now that You can never truly know a person, and that people are ungrateful and hypocrites, you just have to do whats right and move on without expecting any gratitude.
Yours Truly,
Rubi.
