When I was residing in Silver City, I used to walk to the morning market in Lion's Garden. To get to that market, we homemakers had to cross a busy road. What I would normally do was to wait with others and cross as a group. There I noticed an old lady who would not dare to cross. One morning I greeted her and asked if I could cross with her. She said yes. As soon as the group grew to four women, I held the old lady's arm and walked across the road with her.
There after I met her often and we became friends. My children and I referred to her as Mary Po Po because she lived near the Hospital called Mary (the mother of Jesus). Po Po means grand mother. That begun years of friendship. At that time I lived in a big house with little furniture. She made a note of that and started to look for free furniture for my family. I saw it as she was trying to help us. Actually we just relocated from a city 200 miles away and did not bring but half our furniture with us. So on most days she would drop by and give me a mango from her tree or some small item her neighbour gave her. Then I would give her wild boar meat that my care group leader gave me. You see, our leader hunts wild boar as a hobby.
After a while I realised that she was living on one hundred dollars with her mentally unbalanced sister. Her daughter bought the little hut she was staying in and took care of water, electricity as well as phone bills. No wonder she planted all kinds of vegetables in her little garden. She was really sharing her two mites with me, a virtual stranger from the big city. I felt very bad as at that time my husband had a well-paying job. We may live frugally but we were not poor at that point. While I could not refuse her gifts, I contrived very hard to repay her one way or another. To me, I may give her a pound or two of lean wild boar meat once a week. It actually did not cost me a cent. But she placed great value on the meat as she could hardly afford to buy meat on $3 a day to feed two adults. Hence she came often to give me fresh chives, spring onions from her garden, she gave us her first papaya from her new tree too. When she saved up enough money to cook a desert called yam cake, we would be given a big piece. I find that try as I might, I cannot out give her. she was thoughtful, caring and most generous. The interesting part is that she was living way below the poverty line. In spite of that, she was happy and contented with her lot in life. And every second of the day she was looking out at how she could be of help to her friends and neighbours.
Come to think of it, up to the time that I met her; I have never known anybody like her. Nor have I found anyone else like her since. It was six years since I moved away from Silver City, I seldom thought of her. All I know is that she moved in with her daughter after her son-in-law passed away. The next trip I make back to Silver City, I should look her up. Wonder if she is still alive?
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