Tribute To Families

 

 

 

My paternal grandmother, my firstborn in her lap and my mother next to me, four generations captured in one photo! The two elder ladies are with us only in our sweet memories of them.  Grandma lived an amazingly healthy life and passed away at the age of 90 or 91.  My sisters and I grew up under her wings in Male’ while my mother was with father in the atolls. Dad was an island chief and later the atoll chief, closest thing to an Atoll Chief is the Governors abroad, though our chiefs then had little autonomy.

My grandmother born just before the First World War could read and write our language and could easily read Arabic as the educated folk of her days. When I was studying abroad my colleagues from African countries would make all sorts of noises and faces in utter astonishment when I tell them that I have received a letter from my grandma! “Your GRAND MUZZER can write? My MUZZER cannot even write” they would say in sheer amazement!

If I were asked about one singular factor I am proud about our culture, without any hesitation, my answer would be the literacy rate of our women. Perhaps we are the only nation in South Asia where the literacy rate of women is higher than that of men.

Thanks to our first president for opening the first formal school for young girls and for the third president for starting a nationwide campaign to eradicate literacy in Maldives. Though we did not achieve the phenomenal success of the state of Kerala in South India, we also achieved a very high success rate.

The important thing is to carry on enjoying this gift given to us by our parents or our visionary statesmen and go on reading. It is said that Benjamin Franklin said “The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read”

Thank You!