Read Oral History #220. Available in English.
And my granny would always say, ‘If you don’t go to church, I’ll lock my house and you’ll have to sit outside.’ And I said, ‘No problem! You’ll find me out here.’ That’s how rebellious I was…. I met a guy, and that’s when things went, you know, and then after that, I had a baby. I was nineteen by that time. I’ve never seen my granny so disappointed in her life. I said, ‘You know, it happened.’ She never said naught to me—she never said, “That’s it.” She never cut me off. She was there for me, and everybody in the family was there for me. And there was a time when I felt like, you know what, I can’t keep this baby. And they said, “You know what, you can, and you will love that baby. And you will teach it the right way.”
And she was born, and her name was Kamogelo, which means “welcoming her.” I had to give her that name. And now she’s eighteen! And you know, she is my best friend ever. And I have two other kids. I never lived with her father. I just left him, and then I continued my life, raising my child on my own, and I met my husband, who is the father of the other two. He’s not a member also. There was a time when the Lord was showing me, “You’ve been blessed, and now is your time to mature.” Those years, I did mature, and in a painful way. But it was a lesson. Usually whatever happens in my life, I don’t take it as saying, “Why me? Why does it have to go that way? Why did I choose this?” Instead, I think it’s how the Lord wants me to grow in order for me to learn and to move forward and to help another person who might be facing the same thing.