George* lost his parents to a car accident when he was nine years old. Being a minor at the time, he had to leave the rented house he had lived in with his late parents and relocate to his grandparents’ house, whom he regularly visited during the school holidays. Being the only child in his family, George was already very close to his grandparents because they were the next closest people to him after his parents. This however, did not exempt him from grieving when he lost the parents he so much adored.
Since his grandparents were retired and no longer able to farm as actively as they used to in their younger years, George had no choice but to start a backyard vegetable garden at the age of 10 years, to sustain some of his and his grandparents’ basic physiological needs. During that time, it was rare to find households which were directly connected to water supply. Fortunately, George’s grandparents had the privilege of a manually operated borehole with a moderate yield in their yard. At his early age, George had no choice but to see an opportunity to generate income by selling water and establishing a commercial garden to sustain his family during the tough financial times. Soon he was named “rramorogo” by his peers in a very demeaning way, but that nick-name became far less in his face as soon as he started taking some self-defence classes during some week days at the local community hall to protect himself from bullies. Even though George had very few friends, he decided to be bold enough to resist feeling shameful of what was regarded by his peers as being “bari” or a “nerd” as some would say. George stayed focused on his goals, despite feeling lonely sometimes. His major goal was to make the most out of his situation by finding and magnifying his opportunities to overcome his adversity. George was also determined to make it to the best of his ability at school, not only to build a bright future for himself, but to make his grandparents proud as well.
