The auspicious setting of our first post-meal photo.
You managed to corral me to pose, unsmiling but stoic, for the first of many photos as we transited through Addis en route to Nairobi.

I thought my long gestating desire to explore Africa had fallen on deaf ears, but you did more than listen. You internalised, schemed with maternal deftness and unveiled to my heart’s content that I would be your grateful appendage to East Africa.

While our past is littered with innumerable family holidays, there was something arresting about being split from the family unit to navigate pastures anew, as though we were transitioning into a virgin phase of the parent-child dynamic.

After all, this was more than a holiday to witness East African Wildlife, whom were stubbornly absent during our safari adventure, it was an opportunity to expose me to your world of maximal, tireless impact.

The Ashoka SDG conference was a hive of profound conversations between individuals allied by that loftiest of all goals: to make the world a better place.

No idea was too small, no person too young and no funding too nominal. This was a stage of no excuses, doing more with less, and pooling resources to catalyse change.

Amid the electricity, you stood out. My mother: hands shooting up to pose cogent questions, legs saloming in and out of groups to network and communicate her movement, which was invariably the most unique.

It was a short but memorable trip, encapsulating what I admire most about you: a dizzying work ethic married with a formidable will to impact the lives of others.

I hope to embark on more adventures to foreign lands and watch and, with time, channel your energy into a worthwhile cause of my own.

I hope to be sharing a meal with my mother in an airport terminal as we transit….I hope this soon.

Happy 70th Mum

The auspicious setting of our first post-meal photo.