My Great Grandmother

Story: Sarah Guetaia

My great-grandmother is a unique and different person. We don’t speak the same language but her love and smile makes me feel like I understand what she wants to say.

When I see all her children and grandchildren respect her and how they like to spend their time with her and listen to all her old stories it makes me think that she has a lot of interesting things to say. Her language is so different from my mum’s language. It’s not French and it’s not Arabic. Why is her language so bizarre and her look as well, her make up is like a tattoo?

I asked my mum, who told me that my great-grandmother is Berber or Amazigh, which signifies a free person. She speaks Taqabaylit, a Berber dialect, a language without script. Since eternity knowledge has been passed on orally from parent to child, it is the mother who taught their children to speak this language. She never went to school but she raised her children with a good education.

She is a very strong woman with a big heart. I can’t wait to see her in summer and try to share all the great moments of her life.

Precious Cargo

Stories and objects from all over the world, like Sarah’s can be found in Museum Sheffield’s Precious Cargo displays at Western Park Museum to mark the Olympic Games.