My parents accumulate people. There were always extras around our home, for Thanksgiving, for Christmas, for Sunday afternoon generic communing. Mom and Dad downsized about ten years ago. Fortunately, they didn’t downsize their desire to informally adopt a lovely variety of strays.
We met Siya Ndwandwe when he was a freshperson at Macalester College, my mom’s alma mater. My mother heard from the International Student Host Coordinator that Siya, native to Swaziland, had nowhere to go for the winter break! He lived with my parents for a couple weeks and they took over as his official Host Grandparents.
Siya is a lovely man. He visited his family last summer and photographed his (biological) grandma’s cooking pot. Today he wrote an ode to the cooking pot. Here it is:
“You round-bellied son of a god,
Black as the night,
Unapologetically black.
The hush songs you sing
Bring neighbours, near and far
As the big brown logs burn bellow your belly.
You were there at my uncle’s funeral,
You were there at the family reunion,
Just there, doing your thing, without care!
You three legged, son of a god.
You cool, centered, and care-free son of a god.”
Thanks, Siya, for letting me post!