Mother’s Love For Children Conquers All

For a young mother like Ulamila Marama, juggling work, studies and making time for her little fam­ily was no easy road as it meant more sleepless nights and skipping a few meals.

These sacrifices tested her motherly role as she feared of failing in the eyes of her two children, while nearing a mental breakdown when trying to bal­ance things for her family.

“I was at a point in time where I be­came undecided on what kind of mother I should become,” she said.

The 27-year-old resides in Lami vil­lage and is currently an employee at the Tebbutt Research Company and is also pursuing her studies at Fiji National University.

Pandemic period

She said the pandemic period had real­ly challenged her role as it had impacted her financially, emotionally, and spiritu­ally.

While many homes would have been celebrating Mother’s day, Mrs Marama believes that Mother’s day is every day.

“Mothers play a crucial role in a family and society; it could be quiet daunting at times, but motherhood comes with great responsibilities. A mom is a nurturer, an advisor, a counsellor, a nurse, a super woman. Regardless of how we feel, we must continue to build our family. Some­times mothers do not take enough credit for bearing the mental load of the house­hold and I think Mother’s Day is the day we recognize mothers for the sacrifices and efforts they put in the family and the community,” she said.

Perfect mother

Mrs Marama may not consider herself as a perfect mother, but every day she strives to be the best mom to her kids by instilling good values and qualities.

She said giving children expensive gifts and spoiling them with treats could not overpower the quality time one chose to spend with them.

Mrs Marama believes in the power of quality time by being able to bake to­gether, play, go for picnics and most im­portantly, having one on one sessions with her children.

“This is where I am able to teach and instill values in them to guide them in life.” “Some of the moral values I like to remind them of are to always be grate­ful, respectful and be kind and nothing makes me prouder than to see them dem­onstrate some of the good qualities that I have taught them to others,” she said.

“This has also been a learning experi­ence for me, and I am grateful my own mother is supporting and helping me with motherhood.”

“I remember a few times when my daughter would often request me to stay at home and prefers that only her dad go to work.”

“As funny and cute as she sounds, I sat her down and explained to her why I do the things I do.

“Children do not always have to under­stand then and there, sometimes a good explanation will help them understand that the things we do as parents is for our family.”

“She would then ask ‘Gauna cava au na vakai iko kina?!’ (when can I be like you?). Those words seem to motivate me to put into action my future; to work on myself, build on my career and family,” Mrs Marama explains.

Mother’s Day

For this Mother’s Day, Mrs Marama would like to commend all mothers for the sacrifices they made, even when it was unrecognizable.

“I would like to also applaud my hus­band and other fathers who are working hard, sacrificing, motivating and being a great help and support to their wives and kids,”she said.