This 90-year old grandmother is not the hero we deserve, but the hero we need right now. Priscilla Sitienei decided to go back to school five years ago to learn how to read and write alongside six of her great-great-grandchildren. Her classmates call her “Gogo”, which is an affectionate designation for grandmothers in the Kalenjin language. If your grandfather is like, “When I was your age, we had to walk five miles in the snow to get to school”, Gogo can top it, because she’s like, “When I was your age, we didn’t even have school.” And she makes all the kids hear it, because Gogo is a woman on a mission.
“They tell me they are too old,” she told the BBC. “I tell them, ‘Well I am at school and so should you’… I see children who are lost, children who are without fathers, just going round and round, hopeless. I want to inspire them to go to school.”
Gogo worked as a midwife in her village for about 65 years—in fact, she’s even helped deliver some of the kids in her class, which I’m sure makes things really awkward for everyone else. But man, these kids love Gogo, because Gogo takes no shit.
“We love Gogo because when we make noise she tells us to keep quiet,” said one of her 10-year old peers.
She still takes work as a midwife, though, in the dormitory she shares with her great-great-grandchildren. She’s hoping her new skills will help her pass along her midwifery techniques and her formulas for herbal medicines, because Gogo is a boss.
“I want to say to the children of the world, especially girls, that education will be your wealth, don’t look back and run to your father,” she said. “With education you can be whatever you want, a doctor, lawyer or a pilot.”
