While my PhD was opening new doors for me, another part of my life was changing at home.
My grandmother had lost all her children.
I had also left, first for George and later to pursue my studies. She increasingly found herself alone.
Eventually, she made a difficult but practical decision.
She sold the family house and relocated to the village where she had been born.
Her two younger brothers and younger sister were there, together with their families. At least she would have people around her who could keep a close eye on her.
For me, that brought some relief.
Initially, she stayed with her younger sister.
It was a working solution, but she still needed a place she could call her own.
A Scholarship Serving Another Purpose
My PhD scholarship had given me something I had rarely enjoyed during the earlier stages of my education: enough financial room to save something.
Some of those savings now had another purpose.
I started building a modest home for my grandmother.
There was an irony in this period of my life.
Academically, I was progressing towards the highest university qualification.
Personally, I was effectively homeless.
When I returned home, there was no longer the family house I had previously returned to. I stayed with extended family, particularly at the home of one of the sons of my grandmother’s youngest sister.
But I knew that situation was temporary.
Slowly but surely, the new place began taking shape.
Whatever I could put aside from the scholarship contributed towards creating somewhere my grandmother could eventually call her own.
The scholarship had been awarded to enable me to pursue a PhD.
But its effect was beginning to extend beyond the university.
It paid my tuition and registration.
It provided the stipend that supported me while I studied.
And part of what I managed to save was now helping to build a home.
There is perhaps something about educational opportunities that is difficult to see if we only look at the qualification eventually awarded to one person.
The scholarship belonged to me on paper, but its consequences did not stop with me.
An opportunity to pursue a PhD was indirectly helping my grandmother rebuild a place for herself after leaving the family home.
Slowly, the construction continued.
But my financial resources were not unlimited.
And before the house was completed, someone else would need financial help.
Her circumstances would confront me with a different question:
What happens when the little that we have is needed in two places at the same time?
Join the conversation
When an opportunity improves one person’s circumstances, where do you think its benefits to that individual end and responsibilities towards family begin?
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