Muhammed Khan
Honouring my grandfather
Fundraising for Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
Story
A year ago today, I kissed by dada (grandfather) goodbye as a caught a train down to London to meet up with friends just before a final round assessment centre. Little did I know, that would be my last exchange with him as he would fall into a coma and pass away the day before my interview. I seriously contemplated withdrawing my application, but my parents helped build me back up, convincing me I had what it takes, even when I was short of my best.
But this isn’t about me, it’s about one of my personal heroes. If there’s one quality my dada possessed that I aspire to replicate, it was his selflessness. He was a simple man, a cook by trade catering for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and family functions though the culinary skills do not appear to have been passed down sadly. In spite of his own modest circumstances, he preferred not to look at those blessed with more than him in life but rather at those less fortunate and tried to find ways he could use his skills to help them. For the last 15 years of his life, every Saturday he would cook enough food to feed ~200 children and poor residents of Wattville, the South African township of south Benoni. Only when he reached his 70s and no longer had the strength to cook for such a large volume independently did he teach a young Malawi boy who assisted him.
But this was not some middle-age pursuit. He lived by this code for his whole adult life. 40 years ago he ran an orphanage in Serutube where he clothed, fed and educated the children of Rustenburg for two decades all while raising my own father.
I wondered how I could honour his life so decided to fundraise for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The work they do helping orphaned children would have been something close to his heart so any donation no matter how small would mean the world to me. Though I regret not being present in his final conscious moments, it always warms my heart knowing that our final words to each other were “I love you” before I kissed him goodbye.