“We desire to bequest two things to our children – the first one is roots; the other one is wings.” This Sudanese proverb means that parents reflect their best thoughts and experiences for their children. Ever since I was born and grew up in Nyala, Sudan, every day in my life was a life lesson from my father. I found my parents to be people with great generosity toward others. My family has this unique generosity for all the people around us. For instance, my father is a simple man; he works and gets his paycheck like every person.
However, unlike every person, he has spent all his savings on those people who needed it without asking him. Ten years ago, my family and I went to a nice place in my country named Jebel Marra. It is an amazing place located in front of a splendid view of the river. We arrived to our campsite at ten o’clock in the morning. We walked around and enjoyed the incredible views. After we came back my brother and I played soccer with other people staying around us. Later, my two sisters, Rawia and Rasha went to cook goat and prepare food.
While they cooked the goat and put the rice inside in a delicious way, we smelled the cooking meat. Suddenly, a kind-looking man came to us. He looked perplexed and needed something. He greeted us in a respectful way and sat down on the ground to show more respect and tell us his name was Ibrahim. He said to my father: ‘Sir I need you to give us just some money to buy some food for my kids. We haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.’ In that moment I was crying without paying attention to anyone. I felt like saying, “How are we going to enjoy the vacation when there are some people who don’t have food for one meal?”
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My father took half of our food and some of the money and gave it to Ibrahim. At that moment, Ibrahim really thanked my father a lot for that help. Ibrahim went to his home and an hour later he came back very happy and brought his wife and kids to introduce them to us. Their family thanked my father a lot. After Ibrahim left, my father asked me, ‘Son, what did you learn from that?’ I said, ‘Dad, I really learned how to be satisfied with everything gifted from God such as health, satisfaction, and patience.’
My father gave me advice to help people in need because they will reflect that help back to you with good feelings, and if you give, you can get back what you spent in other ways. In the evening, my whole family went to the river and took exquisite pictures beside the water. Through the darkness of the night, we saw brilliant yellow moon light shining down reflecting off little waves rippling across the place. We spent a good day in Jebel Marra, and it was packed with incredible memories and new advice and life lessons from my father. Even though we enjoyed those moments, I really learned new lessons in life from my father: by giving to people in need, the giver will feel an incredible feeling.
Today, I look forward to a vacation to Jebel Marra – not to enjoy the weather and vacation – but to give some help to people there and get the good feeling for that. In fact, there are different places than Jebel Marra that have people in need. I encourage everyone to give help to those who need it. If I hadn’t learned that lesson from my father, I would have lost one of the happiest moments of my life. My father’s generosity is what makes him different from others.
