Ted Audio Collective

As I might have mentioned in past episodes, my sisters and I attended a K-12 Private All Girl School in New York City.

We were one of the few African families, so my mom would visit the school to share our rich cultural heritage,

doing things like teaching African cuisine, songs, games, you name it.

She was so good that she was asked to teach there.

Initially, she said no.

She and my father had their hands full just trying to make life work in the US, a whole new world for them.

But every single year, the school would ask her to join the faculty.

And eventually, she said yes.

However, saying yes meant figuring out who would care for my baby sister when she was not yet old enough to go to school.

Enter Aunt Viola.

My mom learned of a lovely Caribbean woman from Aruba who was caring for her mom and potentially had some capacity to babysit my sister.

When she asked, Aunt Viola politely declined.

She wanted her freedom. She didn't want anything to do with it.

But then my mom and Aunt Viola actually met in person.

And my mom said it was love at first sight.

They just understood each other and connected with each other right away.

And Aunt Viola couldn't turn her down.

So she agreed.

And believe it or not, once Aunt Viola started caring for my sister, the word got out about how good she was with children.

And this little favor became a business that started to grow.

She went from caring solely for my sister to babysitting six or seven other kids in the neighborhood.

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