This is the way to live

| Friday January 8, 2010 00:00

BOROLONG:  Except for the road accidents that killed two villagers just before Christmas and New Year holidays, Borolong is an epitome of peace and tranquility- a kind of place that people in other places in Botswana can nowadays only dream of.

A month and a half ago, I relocated to the village, which is about 10 kilometres outside Francistown after enduring a torrid time in one of the suburbs of Francistown for more than three years.

While staying at Area A, the spectre of crime was always hanging over our heads.Houses had to be barricaded with burglar bars and vicious dogs unleashed to roam the perimeter fence come nighttime.

That is why I was quick to rush to neighbourhood meetings that were organised by the police and residents of the place.

At the meetings strategies were discussed on how to combat crime in the place. Members of neighbourhood watch took turns to patrol the streets accompanied by the police and soldiers.

Brandishing sjamboks and other weapons meant to immobilise a criminal, they would stop whoever would be seen wondering about.

That was precisely in 2006, when I first came to Francistown. But three years later, after I had moved on, I hear reports of people being attacked in their homes by intruders.

A man was left critically injured when the thieves invaded his home in Area A recently.At Somerset East Extension where I relocated to thereafter, it is 'every man for himself and God for us all.' In the two years I had been there, I never heard of a neighbourhood watch, but reports of burglary were a daily occurrence.

On two occasions, our heavily fortified door was fiddled with as we slept. On the second occasion, however, my housemate was alert enough to hear the intruders struggling to dismantle the lock.

He woke me up and we armed ourselves with all sorts of weapons- knives, shovels, even cups and saucers and stood quietly and strategically inside the living room. But at a certain stage, when I tried to fathom the bloodshed that was going to ensue once the burglar gained entry, I shouted expletives at whoever was at the door.

My co-tenants, though relieved, felt that we should have waited in silence and beat the night-lights (it was at night) out of the miscreants.

'Batho ba ba batla go betswa. (These people deserved to be clobbered). Why should they think they can just go into any household and do as they pleased,' said my co-tenant who was seething said.

It is over a month since I moved to Borolong. Fresh air is in abundance in 'Brets'. After inhaling the smog in the middle of the town, I spend a couple of hours outside the house taking in the undiluted air.

And then there is dead silence. A barking dog and a screech of tyres several metres away always punctuate the silence. It gets to a point where  I just want to shout at the top of my voice 'this is the way to live'.

There are no streetlights in Borolong, but most homes are electrified. So, as the sun  sets, night time becomes real night time. It gets so dark you may have a problem seeing your finger in front of your face.

But when the moon is up in the sky, the beauty of the land becomes so captivating its romantic light seems to caress the earth. When it is like that I would take leisurely strolls to Save More shop as you enter Borolong from Francistown. 

The only people you meet are those you comradely exchange greetings with. Not those who would be frisking you demanding that you hand over your cellphone or money.

Out there in the groves, are lurking shadows  that are mostly those of stray mongrels in search of a morsel or donkeys that seem to outnumber the residents with their population. Sometime before Christmas, a neighbour slaughtered about four of them and there was a big feast in the home.

I am told donkey meat is the in thing in Borolong. I am having second thoughts about accepting seshabo from my neighbours. A neighbour offered me a very succulent peace of biltong last week. It could have been donkey meat.

There have been occasions when I had forgotten a shirt on the washing line and found it intact the following morning.

And once I left my cellphone on the window ledge only to find it undisturbed in the morning. My layman's assessment of Borolong is that there may have been criminal activities in Borolong, but so far they have been stamped out by the vigilance of the police and villagers.

And I want to shout out ' This is the way to live' to whoever is listening in Mogoditshane, Rakops, Dukwi, Letlhakane, Mathangwane, Area A, Somerset East Extension, Naledi et al.