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Mabel Bell was born in 1942, October 23rd in Zimbabwe. Mabel had four siblings, one sister and three brothers. Her mother was African, and her father was Arabic, so in Zimbabwe society at the time she was known as a colored. Mabel's mother didn't have a lot of money and they would struggle to get by, while her father wasn't a part of her life that much. In 1990 she lost her brother to cancer, then later lost her mother and two other siblings.

While growing up the school was segregated, there was a school for white, colored, and blacks. Mabel struggled in school because of being bullied for being colored and not having enough money for things When Mabel's mom contacted Mabel's father for help he had paid for most of Mabel's education. She then got sent to a dorm for colored kids called the Embakwe school and would only return home for holidays. When Mabel came home for the holidays her mother would go shopping and spend it on food that she thought Mabel would like, even if she didn't have a lot of money. They would also visit her father's friend's store where her father would pay for Mabel to get fitted for clothes and to get school supplies. If the shop owner did not have the supplies, she needed in stock he would give her money to get the supplies that she needed.

Mabel felt that her life was fine from the ages seven through twelve, but then her father got remarried. Her father stopped supporting her financially because his wife did not want him to have any ties with Mabel because she was half African. Mabel could no longer get clothes, supplies, and money from his friend, her father eventually cut ties with her after she turned eighteen. Mabel cried that day, she wanted to be a teacher, but she became a nurse, so she can support her mother financially and help put her siblings through school.

Later, in Mabel life she got married and had two sons Phillip and Theodore Peters with her husband, soon enough her husband wasn't helping her with the kids and was being abusive towards her. She soon left her husband; she was now raising two boys by herself with a little help from their father's mother. While she was working as a nurse the boys would go to their grandma house after school and stay until Mabel came from work. She knew she couldn't keep doing this to her boys. So as the boys got older she decided to send them to boarding school, so she would start sewing and sell clothing to make extra money to help send them to the school.

Mabel's friend wanted to set her up with her husband's friend since she was a single mother with 2 kids. The friend's name was Albert Bell. He came to Zimbabwe to visit his friend, but soon was set up on a date to see Mabel. They went to have dinner together and had hit it off, so they decided to watch a movie. Mabel told him he can stay in a room at her house, so he didn't have to travel all the way to Bulawayo for a hotel room, Albert ended up staying with Mabel until it was time for him to go back to America but before he went back he offered Mabel a ticket for her to come visit America. Mabel took some vacation days as a nurse and left to go visit Buffalo, NY. After seeing his house and where he lived she stayed in Buffalo for 6 weeks and then went back to Zimbabwe. Albert soon came to see Mabel in Zimbabwe and stayed there for 6 months and in that time, they had got married (1985, April 26). Albert soon had to leave because his ticket was expiring, and Mabel couldn't leave yet because her youngest son Phillip didn't have a passport yet. Phillip soon got a passport and Mabel tried to convince her son Theo to come with them, but he wanted to stay and finish his education, Theo just asked his mother to send shoes for him and that'll he'll be fine.

Soon after being in America Mabel and Phillip learned that what they had for winter in Africa wasn't what they needed for winter in Buffalo. They eventually got winter clothes that's when Mabel realized that she was 6 months pregnant and soon had another boy named Nelson Bell. Then Mabel realized she couldn't work as a nurse in America because her license couldn't transfer to the states which meant she would have to take courses for 8 weeks which she couldn't because she had a baby that needs to be taken care of. Mabel then became a part time seamstress, so she could earn a little money while working from home.

Mabel's brother then got sick and she went to Zimbabwe to visit him on his deathbed and helped pay for his funeral with her pension much from when she was a nurse. A couple of months later Mabel's mom got injured and couldn't travel to the hospital because the bridge got washed away from the rain. When her mom finally got to hospital she had a stroke, she was now on her deathbed. Her mom asked if Mabel was coming but she couldn't come because she didn't have enough money to visit, after her mom heard that her mom said "well in that case I might as well die" she died later that day. Later her sister got sick and died and lastly her little brother died from a ruptured. Mabel now only got her other younger brother left.

As soon as her baby grew up to go to school she decided to take courses for 5 weeks to be an in-home healthcare aid and got a certificate, she worked as a healthcare aid for 9 years and was still working as a seamstress part time. After the 9 years Albert went blind so Mabel had quit her job and spent the rest of his life taking care of him, he died 6 years ago but it feels like just yesterday to her. In her life now, she is happy with her three sons, Phillip Peters, Nelson Bell and Theodore Peters along with her granddaughter she has here and her grandchildren she has back in Zimbabwe.