"LETTER TO MY FABULAFRICANA MAMA" BY AWA DIOP!

Aight ladies , the current mamas, the future young mamas, to all you proud mama's girls, I wanted to celebrate motherhood, wanted to celebrate our mothers, the daughter-maman bond, so I'm adding this feature called "letter to my fabulafricana mama", where I'm asking young mothers to share what it means for them to have children through a letter to their mothers .
The beautiful Awa Diop,a young wife , young professional and businesswoman, mother of one and my friend was kind enough to share with us and her own mama what motherhood means to her, diarama Awa:)

Dear Mummy,

I hope that you are doing well and that everybody at home is doing good as well. As you know, I gave birth to a beautiful boy on September 22nd 2007. Can you imagine, it's already been two years?! Time files, doesn't it? These 2 years went so fast that I never really had a chance to think about motherhood and what it truly means. Living abroad is such a daily challenge. No time, or as they say in some places of the world :" time is money". From the moment you wake up to the moment to you go to sleep there is very little room for "preciousness". The days are paced by "obligations" you must stick to. Well today, I would like to lenghten my minute of preciousness; I would like to take the time to talk to you through these lines.

Little munchkin is my child. I carried him for exactly seven months. Needless to say that I almost missed out on his life. He is a premature baby born 2 months in advance. Even though a future mother is said to be prepared for that, I wasn't. The day I gave birth to him, the nurse put him on my chest , and my reaction was: "I can't ". Yes I could not look at this baby. I felt so guilty and ashamed that I was not able to keep him in my womb for the entire 9 months. The pain that I felt at that moment was greater to anything I ever felt before. The whole scene may have lasted a few seconds but to me it's an ongoing clip in my mind... After that , they took him away from me. I saw him leaving the room I was staying in, in an incubator for babies. The next time I saw him, was 2 days later in the neonatal care of a specialized hospital. He stayed there for 43 days. Motherhood has taught me one thing: there is a thin line between incommensurable sense of happiness and total loss.

Today baby boy is 2 years old. He is definetly part of the terrible 2's I've heard about! When I yell him after he's done something "bad", he looks at me and tells me " mommy no!"That puts a smile on my face, I love him so much! I wish I could spend every minute of the day with him.

How did you mother do it to carry and raise 5 children? The day I left your side to go study abroad , I knew you were special because I missed you so much. But today you are even more special to me because I now know what taking care a child entails. You raised 5 children on your own while pursuing a blemishless career for 35 straight years. Glory to the Allmighty , your values are flawless. Unlike many of us who claim perfection, you are as close to perfection as anyone can get. You are all around dignified in every way. These days, people tend to say that they" made themselves", I say you "made me".

Everyday I strive to as close as possible to who you are.

Your daughter always

Eve Jolie..

Thank you miss Awa for such a beautiful testimonial, God bless you, your mama and your little munchkin and his father:)