Tribute of a decade to my late grandpa, my friend, and my role model, by Halimatu-Sadiya Hamid Bawa
My granddad was my hero and a role model. He was the most courageous and resourceful man I know, elegant and calm, he oozed a gentle and humble aura. My grandpa loved me so much to the extent that it’s so obvious.
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He is the warmest person I have ever known, he welcomed people, believed in people, saw the full potential of people and never downgraded anyone.
Our grandfather was loved so dearly because he brought happiness to every heart he touched. He was caring and understanding towards people, he never judged, and by God’s will anytime his help was needed it came so freely.
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Kaka was an inspiration, he taught me how to write, shaped me into an avid reader and inspired the dreams I now have.
Anytime I pick up the pen to write he comes to my mind, he appears before me making me fall in love with the idea of writing all over again.
Anytime I pick up the pen to write, I become a five-year-old girl handed her first A4 paper and a pen by her grandad and he says “free your mind, little one. Let it wander to wherever it wants and let your fingers be the prism through which the world sees what only your mind sees.”
Anytime I pick up my pen to write, I become a little girl building her vocabulary with the first fancy word her grandpa taught her.
Anytime I pick up my pen to write, I see him so full of life in his brimful library in Potiskum where he read uncontrollably and wrote effortlessly words that inspired many and statements that became lifelong lessons. Allah ya jikan ka kaka!
And whenever I pick up my pen to write, I count my blessings and whenever I count my blessings I count him; I count him twice. God’s gift to mankind trought joy to us and still does.
He is a decade beneath the ground today but ever-present above it in the minds and hearts of those that love him (present tense).
I hope the light he filled in our hearts continuously shines in his grave and may the Almighty forgive him and grant him Jannah.
Ameen?
Halimatus-Sadiya Hamid Bawa, a granddaughter to late Alhaji Suleiman Gimba Ahmed, is a 16-year-old writer living in Kaduna. She can be reached via 07042272734 and bawahalima08@gmail.com
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