For Kabusinze Milembe – A Poem by Nancy McDaniel

Inspired by our Poetry Week, Wilderness Safaris guest Nancy McDaniel shared this moving poem that she wrote in 1994. Titled, ‘For Kabusinze Milembe,’ the poem speaks to the hardships that many African women face being workers, caretakers and family providers.

For Kabusinze Milembe by Nancy McDaniel 7 July 1994

Could I be an African woman?
Am I strong enough
Physically
And emotionally?

Strong enough to bear
The sickness,
The suffering of children
The hunger,
The overwhelming sense of being tired?

Strong enough to
Take care of a man In every way?
To put him first
Before me or my needs?
To do so much work
For so little reward
Or recognition?

But, most of all,
Would I be strong enough To have the patience,
To wait,
To endure,
And, in the end,
Just to be
An African woman?