Nature Is Unlimited Broadcasting Station: Flowers She Wore on Her Feet

By Bertha Mkwelele and Edward Mkwelele

This is the story of a brilliant young woman with a heart of gold, and who left us too soon. Neema was a priceless gift to us, an extraordinary girl who possessed joy, wisdom, and a remarkably profound understanding of herself and others. She taught us everything worth knowing about life and love, everything about what it means to be a best friend. This book represents our outlook for the future. Neema would have wanted the world to hear the voices of children and young people around the world, girls and young women in particular, and the sound of their footsteps when they walk wearing beautiful flowers on their feet. Those girls and young women around the world have worked hard in the same way Neema did, seeking out their favorite flowers and finding their ways to broadcast them, therefore finding their unique values. Neema would have wanted to give voice to children and young people asking for help and support. They will wear flowers on their feet because they worked hard to finally find them and because now they can see themselves. Their walk itself has a voice: it is a cry for help, and it is saying:

Help us because we would like to contribute to the world.
We’re ready.
We know what we love, what we want to do, and what we love doing.
We want opportunities to equip ourselves with knowledge and skills,
then we will all be ready to contribute to the world we live in,
happily and in our own unique way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Mar 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9780228811183

Bertha Mkwelele

BERTHA MKWELELE and EDWARD MKWELELE are Co-founders of the Neema Edward Mkwelele Wellness Foundation.Visit: www.neemaedwardmkwelelewellnessfoundation.org

Book preview

Prologue

This will not be an easy book to write, but there is much to say, in our own words and our daughter’s. And as hard as it may be to write, it’s worth doing it, if it helps inspire girls in Tanzania as well as the African continent and around the world.

It is hard to encapsulate a being, a very special one—a soul, a smile, a laugh, a girl, a huge talent, an enormous heart, a child, a young woman—in however many pages. Yet, we must try, for her, ourselves, for other girls. And we hope that as we do, you will come to understand who she was, and what she meant to all those who knew her.

This is the story of an extraordinary girl and young woman with a brilliant mind, a heart of gold, who is gone too soon. It has been seven years since we lost our beautiful only daughter and our first child, Neema, as we write this book. We still cry at the sound of her name. Our hearts still ache and will forever ache. It is still impossible to absorb or understand, and harder still to accept. We look at her photographs and cannot imagine that all that life and love and energy has vanished.

The purpose of this book is to pay tribute to her, and to write what she accomplished in her short life. Neema was an extraordinary young woman, with joy and wisdom, and with a remarkably profound, great understanding about herself and others. She faced life with courage and passion and humour. She would agree with us that this book is about Neema. The book we’re writing is about telling the world what kind of girl she was, and at the same time telling the world about those things she fell in love with, those things she loved and was happy doing. Neema’s personal core values were what she lived by: making life truly amazing for herself. She valued fun, and authenticated happiness as the greatest value in her life.

We’re writing this book to honour our first child and only beautiful daughter, and to remember her. But there is yet another purpose in writing this book. We want to share the story and the pain, the courage, the love, and what we learned in living through it. More important to us is that there is much to learn here, not only about one life, but the legacy Neema left behind and its impact on other people around the world, including children and young people, especially girls and young women.

If it’s true that we’re going to transform girls’ lives around the world, we need everyone to join us. Then girls can be helped, get all the support needed, and get a better education to realize their potential, regardless of their backgrounds. And if possible, we would love to share Neema’s story, Neema’s life, to help encourage girls to follow her footsteps. We’re telling this story of Neema’s life to inspire them, perhaps help them to learn from Neema’s accomplishments and her victories, and to do more beyond Neema’s accomplishments.

Yes, we miss our first child and our only beautiful daughter so dearly. There was nothing better in life than knowing that things were going well with her. As a happy young woman, Neema just graduated with her BA (Hons) in broadcasting from the University of Falmouth in the United Kingdom, and she was preparing herself to go to Chile in South America. Neema fell in love with South American people and their culture; she met them at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, Canada. Neema enjoyed her time in Vancouver when she was doing an international exchange program. She spoke about this experience honestly and always referred to it as her great travelling experience, and enjoyed everything about it. After finishing her program at Emily Carr, Neema went back to the United Kingdom to continue her studies at the University of Falmouth.

She went back with her mind set, and she made it clear to us and everyone in her life circle that she would one day travel to one of those South American countries. She wanted to go there to live, work, and become a travel writer. She was determined and nothing could have possibly stopped her. Neema got her- self an internship program with a German the tourism company, Chile Inside. Chile Inside operates in the Pacific Ocean, in Santiago, the capital city of Chile.