| narrator | the person who tells the story |
| village | a small community in the countryside |
| household | the people who live together in one home |
| matriarch | a woman who heads a family |
| tradition | beliefs and customs handed down from the past |
| traditional | following old customs |
| slender | thin in a graceful way |
| spindly | long, thin and weak-looking |
| fleshy | plump |
| child-bearing | giving birth to children |
| hips | the parts of the body between the waist and the thighs |
| disapprove | think something is wrong or bad |
| defend | speak in support of |
| unlettered | unable to read and write; uneducated |
| ignorance | lack of knowledge |
| athlete | a person who is good at sports such as running |
| district | an area of a country with its own administration |
| all-round | good at many different things |
| junior | for younger competitors |
| selected | chosen |
| disbelief | inability to believe something |
| charcoal iron | an iron heated by burning charcoal inside it |
| gleaming | shining brightly |
| precious | of great value |
| pride | a feeling of satisfaction at an achievement |
| vindicated | proved right |
| prejudice | an unfair opinion formed without good reason |
| stereotype | a fixed, oversimplified idea about a group of people |
| empowerment | the process of becoming stronger and more confident |