I’m blessed to have been born into such an amazingly huge Liberian family. I joke with people and say my family is not just any family, we’re a network. There are relatives I’ve never met, but I know they exist and they know I exist. Their role is to look out for me if I needed anything without hesitation and vice versa. This is why my husband is always on his best behavior.
I make a point to connect frequently with as many of my relatives as possible. A simple phone call goes a long way and I am often blessed with life lessons or survival tips.
Here’s what they’ve shared:
- Never leave your house without your earrings. (thanks mom)
- Vaseline is a Liberian Woman’s beauty secret.
- Never argue with a fool in public. All you have from the outside, are people watching two fools and they don’t know who’s in the right.
- You’re born black, you will die black, it’s up to you to make the most out of yourself.
- Whatever you do in the bush, don’t bring it to town (translation-don’t put all your business out there for ones to judge).
- You marry for companionship and not support.
- Wear your gold to get your man, and your diamonds to keep him.
- Education is the foundation of all things.
- Never ask a Liberian woman exactly how many children she has. It’s bad luck. She’ll always smile and respond, “I have enough.”
- When you educate a man you educate an individual, but when you educate a woman, you educate a whole community.(thanks Grandpa A.K)
- Always put God first.
- Tell your children, “no matter what, tell me (the mother) first.”
- During the Civil War: Even if we have nothing, we have each other and that is everything.
I’ve grown so much from each and every one of them and I’m constantly doing my best to make them proud. My mother always said that, “Jebeh knows her people.” It’s true. I left Liberia at such a young age but I never left my people behind.
Jeb