Mhlophe, who has made a significant impact in the literary and entertainment industry, was speaking during a meet-and-greet session held on Tuesday at the Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone. The event was hosted by the HRDC. During the event, Mlhophe proved that she is a pioneer with her brilliant and comical storytelling that got the audience laughing. Her energy and vibrant smile lit the venue as she took the audience through her childhood memory lane, which also led her career path.
She also shared details of her childhood, having grown up in a rural area and how her father used to make them clean their relatives’ graves while telling them stories about them till nightfall. She said they would spend days listening to his father’s stories, whilst others were never completed as he left them hanging. Amidst all those stories, she said she was given her great-grandmother’s name, ‘Nomakhwezi.’ She said that when she asked what the name meant, her father told her that even though her late grandmother did not know how to read and write, she collected anything with words on it. She said her later great-grandmother had a collection of books and old newspapers. That made the young Mhlophe at the time curious and eager to know how to read and get to know their history.
