BOOK REVIEW
Friday, November 06, 2009
Little Giant of Bechuanaland is the story of pioneer missionary Reverend William Charles Willoughby (1857 to 1938) and his dedicated wife Bessie Willoughby. He is most famous for his role with the "Three Chiefs" when they went to London in 1895, something that has been written about extensively, but not completely. Professor Neil Parsons called Willoughby a "pathfinder" in his book King Khama, Emperor Joe, and the Great White Queen (1998) and the Three Kings (the Dikgosi Khama III, Bathoen I and Sebele I) his "reluctant followers".
Willoughby is remembered by many older Batswana for a number of other significant contributions he made to Botswana over the 24 years he lived in Southern Africa as a missionary, an educator, a linguist, a researcher, writer and author of five significant books, and a photographer.
It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...