The sad reason Omanyala's wife is a dying breed

GEOFFREY MBUTHIA ENTERTAINMENT SUB-EDITOR

24 September 2021

Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala made headlines this week after becoming the fasted man on African soil in the 100m sprints.

But as fascinating as that feat was, many were as impressed when they learnt of the quality wife he had called Lavendar. The couple met back in 2016.

While she might have been difficult to 'ingisha box' according to Omanyala, she would prove a worthy mate as he revealed this week. He narrated,

"I trained for six months and we had no money. Thanks to my girlfriend, she was paying the rent and taking care of the bills as she had a job. She would bring the money to the table and tell me how to budget it, telling me what was training money, rent, and food. I would come back from training and find that she has boiled water and is ready to take care of me and I feel good."

After the above revelation, there was debate about whether such women like Lavendar still exist? The jokes wrote themselves as many men( and women) agreed that she was indeed a rare breed, something I wholeheartedly and sadly agree with.

But why is our society lacking in wonderful women like Lavendar? What went wrong? I think that I might have the answer-you see we just aren't raising women to become wives or to look forward to becoming wives.

The Bible says, in Proverbs 18:22, "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord."

The crucial phrase in the verse above is the first part. The man who is finding a WIFE! A finished product! Meaning that when the couple exchange vows, the woman is already a wife in thought and deed.

The truth is that in modern society's bid for equality (which I fully endorse), we have made many women see marriage as secondary (and inferior) to other life goals like career and self-sufficiency.

While the latter two things are great and should be encouraged, they do take a lot of time and dedication to learn and earn.

Why aren't parents teaching their daughters to become wives, the same way they are pushing them to get great careers with zeal?

So once these women are done with school and are deep into their careers, their communities start asking them where their husbands are? Or why they can't keep a man?

How can these women become wives and they have no clue and experience about the role? Let's not forget that all their lives these women have been given the independent woman schtick, which advocates for the individual above all else, something that will not work in marriage.

Now when many modern women meet a worthy man, things like sacrifice, duty and devotion which are a must in any successful marriage look like servitude to a man.

Wives don't magically appear after the vows are exchanged, it is something a woman has to learn from the time she is a girl. But who is there to teach them?

Simply put, a society will prioritize and give time to what it values. How much time do we spend teaching women to become great wives? Hmmm...I thought so.

But this just my opinion.