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The Story of Nakawuma: The Grandmother Elephant

Our story for children everywhere......

Once there was a beautiful village deep in the heart of Africa, and in that village, while listening to a story about the goodness of Grandmothers, one of the younger boys said, “I wish all of us in the village could have a grandmother to share.” 

The children nodded their heads in agreement.  So they started thinking about who could be the best grandmother to them all.

“We should ask Nakawuma Sylvia, the mother of the elephants, to be our Grandmother.  She takes such good care of all the elephants. Maybe she could be our grandmother, too?” said one of the children.

 1. Meet Nakawuma Sylvia

The boys and girls of the village clapped and cheered in excitement.  They ran to the river where the elephants gathered to frollick in the water, and bath each other with their trunks. Immediately, they saw Nakawuma Sylvia caring for some of the smaller elephants near the riverbank. 

The children shyly approached her and said, “Nakawuma Sylvia, we see how well you care for all of the elephants. We don’t have a grandmother of our own and we desperately need one. 

Will you be our grandmother?” 

2. Meet the children!

Nakawuma Sylvia looked at the children thoughtfully and extended her trunk, “Children, I would be honored to be your grandmother and love to teach you many important things. Why don’t we start now by learning how to dance together.  The children all gathered in a circle. Nakawuma Sylvia guided the children with her trunk. 

The children giggled and laughed as they learned her special dance. After the lesson, Nakawuma Sylvia said, “Now that I have shown you my fun  dance will you show me how you can sing?” With joy in their hearts, the boys and girls happily sang a song for her.  Nakawuma Sylvia smiled and gratefully said, “Oh, thank you, children. Your singing is so beautiful.”

3. The children singing and dancing.

So this is how Nakawuma Sylvia became the Grandmother Elephant to a school of 1,000 boys and girls in Africa. For many years, she visited the school and did wonderful things with all of her grandchildren.  During her visits each evening,  she would give her grandchildren hugs with her trunk.  Nakawuma Sylvia loved the children and they greatly loved her.

One day, the children ran up to Nakawuma Sylvia and said, “Oh, Grandmother Nakawuma Sylvia, our water is dirty and we have nothing to drink. Will you help us?” Nakawuma Sylvia gathered together the other elephants in the wild and they built a well so her grandchildren in the school would have clean water to drink. The children were no longer thirsty.

 
 
4. Fresh water for the children.

On another visit to the village, the children ran up to Nakawuma Sylvia by the riverside, “Oh, Grandmother Nakawuma Sylvia, we are hungry as we have so little to eat. Will you help us?” 

So, once again, Nakawuma Sylvia gathered the other elephants together and bought land so the children could have a garden for vegetables.  The elephant herd also built a chicken farm for her grandchildren so they could have delicious eggs to eat. The children were no longer hungry.


 
5. The children with eggs from the chicken farm!

Once more, the children asked, “Grandmother Nakawuma Sylvia, we want to learn but we have no place where we can study and read books together. Will you help us?”  

So, yet again, Nakawuma Sylvia gathered the elephants together to build a library so her grandchildren would learn to read and discover the world.  There are now books about the world and the children can read and learn about everything.

 6. Our Library!

Nakawuma Sylvia also realized the children did not have anywhere to play.  So, she and her elephant friends built playgrounds for the children and they had so much fun.

 
7. Our children's playground!

By now Nakawuma Sylvia realized that, in addition to reading and learning, her children would need jobs when they graduated from school.  Knowing that being a tailor was a good job, she and the other elephants built a sewing room and installed sewing machines.  Now the children could learn to sew and get a job.

 
8. Our sewing room!

And, if the children wanted to go to a higher school she and the other elephants got together and made sure that all the children could go on to high school and college.  Many of the children wanted to be teachers and nurses.  With Nakawuma Sylvia’s help they could all continue in school.

During Nakawuma Sylvia’s time with the children it became apparent a hospital was also needed to care for the children .  So Nakawuma Sylvia , once more, gathered together some elephants and built a hospital. Now her grandchildren had a place to go to that made them feel better when they were ill.

9. Our Clinic

Grandmother Nakawuma Sylvia saw great joy on the faces of her grandchildren and began a holiday tradition  of bringing all the other elephants to the village for an annual party.  They came every year to celebrate with the grandchildren with dancing, singing, special foods and presents. 

10. Our happy herd!

Over the years, Nakawuma Sylvia brought even more elephants to the village to help her grandchildren accomplish many things because she wanted to show the children how much she loved them.  All of the other elephants had much joy in their hearts when they were with the children.

The boys and girls in the school learned that when they grew up they, too, dreamed of becoming 'grandfathers' and 'grandmothers.' They wanted to help other little boys and girls and show them love, just like Nakawuma Sylvia had always shown them.

Dear readers of this story, think about the children and ask yourselves this: how might you become an elephant grandmother to children who are asking for your help?

 
With love from
Sylvia's Children

This story concept was developed by Daniel Prins and may not be reproduced in any way without prior approval.