Nennie

How does one define a mentor?  One dictionary meaning states that a mentor is a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.  Who are your mentors?  Do your mentors exist only in the work environment or do you have mentors in all areas of your life?  

We probably all have mentors in our daily lives, ordinary people who take that special interest in us, giving us their best; rising above the muck and mire of everyday life to save another.  Nennie was one of my mentors because for many years of my life, she was like the main current in a river, always there but unseen most of the time

Nennie came into my life, at a time, now that I look back, when there was great difficulty.  I was a young woman who returned to Trinidad and Tobago with a brand new first degree and really no place to live and no job.  You see the family and home I knew had dissolved; scattered all over the world.  Nennie opened her home and her heart.  I was treated like family.  She welcomed into her home and got to know my friends, the suspicious relatives, the boyfriends. 

This was an exciting time in my life, being a young adult but there were many issues also and I truly did not know how to solve most of them.  Nennie prayed for me, loved me and when I asked gave advice with a smile and a laugh.  One such incident involved whispered accusations of sexual proclivity at my job.  Nennie with her weak heart and all was ready to 'go to bat' for me.  She believed and knew that I was not of that ilk and she was angry that my reputation would be sullied.  "All a Black woman has is her reputation" she said.  Her passion for me filled me with pride and to this day I continue to act in a manner that would support her words.  

As I grow older, I hope that the lives I touch, especially the young lives, are positively inspired by my simple ordinary life.  I hope that I give love (agape) to others as Nennie and so many other women have given to me; women who lived and are living ordinary everyday lives.  

Rest in peace, Nennie.