Celebrating my Ancestor

As we are in Black history month, I felt the need to go back to my ancestors, who are an integral part of who I am today. In 2018, I went to a PhD interview, where I was asked, who was my role model or someone I admired a lot. I was not prepared for that question and was definitely caught off guard. I automatically answered my grandfather, who gave up an established life in a small city to move to the capital and give a better life to my mom, aunt and uncles, never looking back. He was a great person with a far-sighted, visionary, perspective. In a different time, or if he were born somewhere else, he could have gone ever further. He valued knowledge and education, and instilled those values in his children, which were in turn passed on to me. It is a legacy that I value immensely, and try to keep as alive as possible.

At the time, I was struggling a lot with being far away from my family and friends to follow my academic dreams, but every time he came to my mind. I would ask myself, if he could, if they could, despite the sacrifices, why couldn’t I?

His determination, perseverance and forward planning, lives with me every day - even if I do not always execute it as well as I would like. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to interact and learn more from him, as I was the youngest granddaughter, but sometimes I feel I was very lucky to inherit a lot of his personality (determination, education values and willpower, despite adversity) and his memory is an abiding light in my mind.