Michigan's Insurance Company
Other States
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America & Me Essay Contest
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Eighth Place Essay
Elliot Rosenfeld
Cranbrook Boys' Middle School
Bloomfield Hills
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My Passionate Grandmothe
When most people think of heroes, they think of famous people or athletes. They imagine superheroes with superpowers that fight crime to save the world. When I think of a hero, I remember someone who I knew and want to be like. My hero is a woman who put others before herself. She sacrificed her health, her time, and her money, so that others could have a better life. My hero is my grandma, Ingrid Rosenfeld.
When she first went to Africa on vacation in 1973, she immediately identified needs and challenges. Being a woman of action and conviction Grandma Ingrid decided to take back soil samples to universities in the United States for testing to see what would grow well in it. When the research was finished, they found that the jojoba plant and wild maize would grow well in the dry African climate. She introduced the two crops and they thrived.
My grandmother started a goat farm in Uganda and taught people how to grow crops and keep goats. She did this because she learned that babies could digest goat's milk much easier than calf's milk. In addition, goats seemed to fare better on the dry terrain than calves did. When Idi Amin took over Uganda, she moved the farm to Kenya, to insure the people's safety. Thanks to Ingrid, the number of goat farms grew rapidly in Kenya, eventually reaching sixty-nine. Amazingly, she helped breed a goat which produced both milk and meat. Needless to say, the goats were donated by my generous grandmother.
Tragically, in her later life, Ingrid was stricken with cancer and was unable to go to Africa to help with the village. My grandma turned her focus to her local community in Glencoe, Illinois. She concentrated on how she could make it a better place to live by using her green thumb. She donated two greenhouses and a flatbed truck for much of the city's gardening needs. Millions of flowers, trees, and bushes were planted in neighboring parks, medians, and around the city tennis courts. She built gazebos and picket fences as a backdrop for her artistic splashes of colorful flowers. She also held plant sales and donated the money to charity. The gardening kept her mind off her pain, she once told me.
I learned a lot from my grandmother. She shared her knowledge of plants and animals with others, so that they could live better lives. She was a humanitarian who wanted to make the world a better place in which to live. Ingrid Rosenfeld was a wise woman who taught others how to be self sufficient and to work with the land. She taught me the importance of being passionate and improve the world for others, as well as myself. One of the most significant lessons that I learned from my grandmother was the significance of giving back to the community. Sadly, my grandmother lost her battle against cancer in 2004, but I will remember her forever.
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