“I’ve heard it said and I really do believe that a mother and a child are born in the same breath. For when the child is born, only then is the mother brought to life. That woman, who has now become a mother, she never existed before that moment. And If we understand the real sacred mystery of Motherhood, then we must accept that it is an irrefutable truism that indeed ALL mothers go to heaven. A woman goes empty-handed into the land of the spirits and comes back, transformed into a mother, bearing a sacred gift of life, a proof of the light that exists in the void!” -Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido (Nne’s Reflections from the collection of stories: “Conversations with an Amichi Grandmother”)

A Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers who feel voiceless, dreamless, faceless, nameless…

As we joyfully celebrate mothers around the world on this wonderful Mother’s Day, I also want to shine a spotlight on and honour the weeping mothers who came before us, victims of Biafra-Nigeria civil war and those mothers who are also presently with us, victims of Boko Haram’s onslaught…

Let us remember the mothers who hunger for bread, shelter, security and peace, the ones who were raped and forced into motherhood, the mothers who are still children, yet bearing other children, mothers of physically and mentally challenged children who constantly stand in the gap for their needs and work hard to give them lives of dignity, mothers who are overwhelmed, sick and depressed, mothers who are constantly fed the crippling lies that they are unworthy, not good enough, incomplete, ugly and unlovable…

We remember all mothers who sacrifice and stoically bear unspeakable, silent shame and deep pain, at the promise of a better life for their children and mothers who are sad victims of horrific abuse, trafficking, violence, war, kidnapping and terrorism. We extend a special prayer and cyber hug to the mothers who get fists instead of gifts, those unique mothers who get bouquet of bullets instead of glorious flowers, the wailing mothers, whose children go off to war, some die and some remain; for mothers who wait for their lost/kidnapped children; the unsung, unknown, unheard, uncelebrated mothers…

May the sweet, soothing and loving divine mercy of God’s grace gift you all with an internal joy, peace and comfort that defy all human understanding. We love, cherish, celebrate and honour you on this very special Mother’s Day. On behalf of Whole Woman Network team, I offer a toast; a wonderful, heartfelt salute to ALL mothers!

Love, Light & Healing

-Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido
You may also find me on my Floetry Blog
Poet | Master-Certified Leadership Coach-Trainer -Consultant|
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Whole WoMan Network
Raising a New Generation of Empowered, Transformational & Creative African Leader

 

Refugee Mother and Child (A Poem by Chinua Achebe)

No Madonna and Child could touch
that picture of a mother’s tenderness
for a son she soon would have to forget.
The air was heavy with odours

of diarrhoea of unwashed children
with washed-out ribs and dried-up
bottoms struggling in laboured
steps behind blown empty bellies.

mothers there had long ceased
to care but not this one; she held
a ghost smile between her teeth
and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s
pride as she combed the rust-coloured
hair left on his skull and then –

singing in her eyes – began carefully
to part it… In another life this
would have been a little daily
act of no consequence before his
breakfast and school; now she

did it like putting flowers
on a tiny grave.

 

CLICK HERE for my other Blog post in honour of Mother’s Day: A Happy & Blessed Mother’s Day