The other side of Nijel Amos: humble, loyal, focussed, patient

Patricia Edwin
Staff Writer | Monday August 20, 2012 00:00

 

When someone hits it big like the way our the boy has just done at the Olympics, the world begins to wonder who he is. People rub their eyes in disbelief as if suddenly exposed to a glaring sun after being accustomed to a dark place.

He is in the minds of everyone as they try to digest his success vis-ˆ-vis his erstwhile humble beginnings. They begin to wonder also what his dreams were when growing up, what he likes or what makes him tick. It was with this in mind that, The Monitor spoke to a few people who knew Nijel on and off the track to put racing minds at ease.

Nijel's sister Francinah Amos is on cloud nine after she saw on television how her little  'Zorro' outpaced seasoned runners to clinch a silver medal at the recent Olympics in London.

She was on the edge of her chair as she saw the boy who grew up before her eyes closing in on the Kenyan David Rudisha who grabbed gold and went on to smash the 800metres world record.

She says as they were growing up, Nijel was a child who liked to help out their elders, especially their single parent grandmother, Gakenaope and who eked out a living by scratching the land for food to raise them when their mother passed away when Nijel was only four.

As the second eldest, says Francinah,  Nijel had a fair share of domestic chores and enjoyed very much going to the fields and helping out there. 

'Nijel enjoyed going to the lands and helping out in the ploughing season. He traveled to the lands, which is a bit distant on our donkey-cart,' says Francinah. She anticipates the humble Nijel who, when everything is settled, will come home, inspan the donkey cart and nonchalantly drive it off to the ploughing fields. Or if not, he would just be home performing his duties as any other child.

'He still takes the cart to go and fetch water and collect firewood for our grandmother,' adds the sister proud as a peacock . She  says Nijel's favourite meal is 'zengwe' (millet porridge) and 'dobi' a traditional Kalanga dish made up of stamped millet and dried greens with peanuts.  Nijel like anyone else is someone who has dislikes. Asked about that Francinah says the lad can be very patient, friendly and humble  but is averse to large crowds, or having many friends.  'He likes to keep to himself and hang around with his cousins and family,' she adds.

Furthermore, Francinah  tells The Monitor that before they moved to Marobela village they stayed at Tlhalogang lands around the tiny villages of Semitwe and Jamataka.

'We moved to Marobela in 1991,' she stated. Kuda Amos, 22 is Nijel's cousin and describes the athletics star as a patient person who is difficult to anger. 'It is not easy to make him angry because he is very friendly,' reminisces Kuda.

Kuda has grown up with Nijel and they had gone to the same school. An orphan too, he has also been  raised by grandmother Gakenaope.

He says that throughout their schooling at Nyamambisi Primary School, Nijel had never run a competitive race, only to start after a tragedy that had befallen him while in junior secondary school.

'We were at Shangano Junior Secondary. Nijel fell out of a moving vehicle and lost all his teeth. After he healed, he started participating in races at school and that is when his talent started to show. He was running 800 metres and other middle distance,' he says. He says as they were growing up, Nijel did not seem interested in being an athlete.

'He liked to study hard and we always thought that he would be someone very educated but not an athlete,' says the cousin.

He says that they used to drive the donkey cart together and always wanted to make their grandmother happy.  'We fetched firewood, water and went to the lands using the donkey cart,' says Kuda. One of Nijel's mentors and trainers Solomon 'Taliban' Dikgang who is Chef de Mission of Botswana Games in the Central District says that Nijel was one of the most humble people that he ever knew. He says that he never boasted about winning.

'He is humble, modest and confident because even when asked about an upcoming race he would just say, matter-of-factly that he will win and bring a medal but he never boasted,' says Dikgang.

He says Nijel participated in 2009 and 2011 and he was doing well and was highly rsponsible. 'Sometimes we were responsible for more than 300 children but with children like Amos among them, we knew that they would exercise responsibility,' he adds.

He says that Nijel was one of the orphans that they had but he was very mature. 'We had 16 orphans and Nijel was one of them but he is very mature and very humble and hard working. He is very focussed on what he wants to achieve and where he wants to go,' says the mentor. He says that Batswana have never taken Botswana Games seriously but now they are hopeful that Nijel's achievement and others who have done well will help them sell the games.

 'When we present in councils or to parents we are not taken seriously. Some say it is a waste of money. 'We hope that in our next presentations Nijel and others who have done well will come along with us and act as our ambassadors because Botswana Games is very critically in growing these athletes,' he states.