Once upon a time, and it was not such a long time ago,
there was a mother who had a small child called "Bahati"’ (meaning "luck" in
Swahili, the language of East Africa). One day Bahati had a slight fever. Her
mother left her lying in bed at home and went to one of her near-by neighbors to
ask for some medicine.

    While still at her neighbor’s house suddenly she saw
flames coming from her own house where Bahati was fast asleep. The mother ran as
fast as she could in order to get Bahati out of the house before the flames
reached her. As she was removing the girl from her bed the mother’s arms and
legs were burned badly and her whole body was covered with burns. Fortunately
Bahati was removed from the house without a flame touching her. As Bahati grew
older her friends would make fun of her mother and say: "Why isn’t your mother
pretty like our mothers? Why is she so disfigured? Why does she have scars over
her whole body?" Even Bahati began to despise her mother and make fun of her.

    One day when Bahati was alone with her mother she asked
her: "Why do you have scars over your whole body? Why are you so disfigured? Why
aren’t you pretty like my friends’ mothers?" Bahati’s mother replied: "My child,
I am disfigured and have scars all over my body because of you. I am not pretty
like the other mothers because of you." Then she explained to Bahati everything
that had happened.

    From that day on Bahati realized how much her mother loved
her and how much she had done for her. Bahati never again was ashamed of her and
didn’t let a day pass without showing her gratitude. She told her friends: "My
mother loves me more than your mothers Nairobi, Kenya love you. She is the
nicest mother in the whole world.