"Banna ba Mmathubudukwane ba tshaba masimo"

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Friday February 22, 2008 00:00

We had just 'scooped' one of the greatest tales of our time about the veteran's memories of the war and we leave the yard with a smile of contentment. Suddenly, three skinny boys on a donkey-cart appear from nowhere, forcing us off the road. The boys smile naughtily and whistle as they drive on. Less than a minute later our car gets stuck in the sandy road as Sename tries to negotiate the treacherous terrain.

Sename tries by all means to drive out of the sandy 'trap' but to no avail. We try to use stones and tree branches, but the car will not move. We look around hoping that some 'able-bodied men' will come to our rescue.

A few minutes later three children, two boys and a girl, show up. The girl and the youngest boy are siblings while the other boy is their cousin.

'Where are the men of this masimo? We need strong people to help us pull this car out,' I say.

'Banna ba Mmathubudukwane ba tshaba masimo, ba kampo ba ya morakeng,' the children reply. (Men of our village do not like coming to masimo. They would rather go to the cattle-post).

They try to help us but the car is still stuck. 'If my father was here, he would pull you out in no time,' the girl declares confidently.

We gather that her father is in Mathubudukwane and that he would only be back in the evening. I check out the time and to my dismay it is already lunchtime.

'If my father was here, he would pull you out in no time,' the girl repeats. This becomes her monotonous chorus until her younger brother who I later gathered is in Standard Five joins in: 'If my father was here, he would pull you out in no time.'

After some time, the elder sister throws her arms up in despair. 'Nna ke feletswe ke maano jaanong,' she says.

Despite all the childish talk the children stick with us and the female proves to be the most helpful.

The younger brother looks at this writer and parrots the words of her sister, 'Nna ke feletswe ke maano jaanong.'

I look at him and jokingly dismiss him. The mother arrives to check on her charges. After much persuasion, she agrees to phone the children's father from my phone.

Less than 10 minutes later the father, whom we learn is called Abbiah Meleko Segobaetsho, arrives. To our surprise, World War II veteran Powane is also in the company of Segobaetsho.

However, our hope is soon dashed when Segobaetsho's Nissan bakkie also gets stuck in the shifting sand. Out of desperation, I call the Mmegi office in Gaborone to inform them that we are experiencing some problems with the car.

After what seems to be hours, Segobaetsho manages to negotiate the sand and pulls the car out. There are gleeful cheers as our car is steered out of the 'danger zone'.

Clearly happy that she and her family have done a sterling job, Mma Segobaetsho goes to a nearby pond to continue the washing. This reminds me of the time in the early 80s when my folks used to go ploughing at the masimo near Pilikwe.

Greatly relieved, we rush back to Mmathubudukwane where we visit a popular spot to meet some men from the Masoso mophato.

Although the men are incoherent due to the traditional beer that they had been drinking, they somehow manage to shed some light on their mophato. Masoso were inducted in 1973 under the leadership of Kgosi Modise Balebetse. Its members were born between 1920 and 1945. This is a big age gap, we point out and the Masoso explain that this is so because it happened at a time when Bakgatla were trying to revive mephato.

After meeting the Masoso, we have our lunch before leaving the village. The journey back to Gaborone promises to be uneventful until we get near Sebele.

The car makes a funny noise at the back and to our horror we realise that the right tyre has burst. We park the vehicle not far from the road and try to change the tyre. Oncoming traffic keeps on disturbing us but somehow after a struggle we manage to succeed.

The team arrives in Gaborone at 8 pm and we are finally able to breathe a huge sigh of relief because we are back home safe and sound.