Grandmother story

This is Irene's grandmother.

She introduces herself to people with the usual opening line... "Hello, my name is Lafut. I am 80 years old. I have 10 children, 39 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren... (and still increasing)"

This amazing lady lives on her own in a wooden house in Kampung Baru Jumpa, Tenom. Each day she rises to tend to her cocoa plants and paddy fields. You might wonder, why isn't someone of her age sitting back at home and relaxing. What I heard from my loupo was, she prefers to be independant while she still can, and does not want to burden her children who have their own families to tend to. Anyway, her eldest daughter lives not far away, just in case. Her husband, an ex-village headman, passed away 10 years ago.

This energetic granny has a strong penchant for adventures and travelling. She has just gone for a New Year trip to Melinau in Indonesia (where the Lundayeh people originates from) to visit relatives there. Not a simple feat, mind you. You gotta go on road from Tenom to KK (4 hours), KK to Tawau (flight), Tawau to Tarakan in Indonesia (ship), and Tarakan to Melinau (boat). She is known to travel quite often to Sandakan (10 hours journey) to visit her children there. During her younger days, she was a Christian missionary going around from village to village on feet.

What I admire most about her, besides her independance and her energy, is her positive attitude in life.

At an age when most people would be grumpy and demanding, here's a very different kind of granny.

She is not the kind who bad-mouths or gossips about other people, blaming her children for not living up to her expectations, finding fault with everybody and everything...

Here is an old lady who speaks positively about her past experiences whether good or bad; tells people about her adventures and her family, and giving words of encouragement to her listeners. She gives wise advice based on the Bible and her faith in the God she knew. Therefore she is very much sought after to give opening speeches at family gatherings or events. "Stage-fright" is definitely not in her vocabulary, hehehe...

If only I grew up among more of such people, I would have been a better person.