Mortals

I am full of love for you, but you can come however you feel about me. I have a way to let you know where I am and I will use it in a short time.

Love,

Your husband,

Ray

He folded the letter and sealed it an envelope, rapidly, before he could change his mind.

Ray tried to recall what was on his docket for the day. Kerekang wanted to plant some exotic species of fast-growing poplar around the school, for shade, which would be expensive. The seedlings had to be ordered from Cape Town. There would have to be a negotiation. And then there were two locals, potential teachers, to be interviewed.

He went outside to wait for the students. It was a moment he liked. The elements of the world were distinct. Kerekang, who was lodging in the farmworker location to the south, would appear at the head of the procession of children coming from that quarter. And there he was, striding, jocularly orchestrating his charges into a semblance of orderly marching. In twos and threes children were popping up, coming from other directions, on their own, unled.

Seeing Kerekang, antic man, the children from the east and the west and the north began to run.

Glossary

S: Setswana A: Afrikaans

ANC: African National Congress

Baherero: members of the Herero tribal group

bakkie: pick-up truck (A)

Basarwa: members of the San, or Bushman tribal group

Batswana: inhabitants of Botswana. A single inhabitant of Botswana: Motswana (S)

BDF: Botswana Defence Force

bogwadi: the belief that widows are a main source of sexual disease, in particular AIDS

BoSo: familiar abbreviation for the left-leaning Botswana Social Front

braii: barbecue (A)

chibuku: maize beer (S)

CODESA: Convention for a Democratic South Africa—Constitution-writing exercise undertaken by opposition groups and the South African government, 1990–92

CTO: Central Transport Organization

CUSO: Canadian University Services Overseas

Dikgang: daily newspaper of the government of Botswana

ditlhamane: fairy tales, tall tales (S)

Domkrag: lifting-jack, meaning “the ruling power” (A)

donga: ravine (S)

ehe: okay (S)

expat: expatriate worker

goromente: government

gosiame: all-purpose term meaning variously: I agree; okay; everything’s fine (S)

halal: Islamic kosher

Ichokela Bokhutlon: Endure to the End, the name of Kerekang’s shortlived commune (S)

ISA: to make happen. The name of Kerekang’s social movement (S)

“Ke Bona”: Botswana’s national anthem (S)

koevoet: crowbar. Boer-controlled paramilitary force in former South West Africa (A)

koko: Knock, knock. Said to announce oneself on arrival (S)

koppie: island mountain. Isolated stony hill

kraal: corral (A)

lakhoa: European (any foreigner). Plural: makhoa (S)

lobola: bride-price (S)

mealie: cornmeal

meneer: mister (A)

mma: mother, woman. Form of address (S)

Mmegi: local newsweekly, published in Gaborone

mobashi: street child (S)

moruti: preacher (S)

Ovambo: majority tribal group in Namibia

pan: craterlike depression (in the Kalahari Desert)

paraffin: kerosene

permsec: Permanent Secretary

POI: person of interest. Intelligence term

pula: the national unit of currency, meaning rain (S)

REDSO: Regional Economic Development Services Office. A department of the Agency for International Development

rondavel: traditional round thatched hut (squaredavel, ovaldavel—contemporary variants) (A)

rra: sir, father (S)

SADF: South African Defence Force

sakkie: plastic sack (A)

sangoma: traditional medical practitioner

Setswana: the national language of Botswana

SWAPO: South West African People’s Organization

Tsamaya sentle, Sala sentle: Go well, Stay well (S)

Waygard: commercial security guard service

Wits: University of the Witwatersrand

ZANU: Zimbabwe African National Union; Shona-based nationalist movement led by Robert Mugabe

ZAPU: Zimbabwe African People’s Union; Ndebele-based nationalist movement led by Joshua Nkomo

Zed CC: Zionist Christian Church

PLACE NAMES

Bontleng: a poor neighborhood in Gaborone

Caprivi Strip: a tonguelike extension of Namibia projecting halfway across the top of Botswana

Gobabis: a town in Namibia

Lobatse: a town in southern Botswana

Old Naledi: squatter settlement on the outskirts of Gaborone

SouthWest: regional term for former South West Africa, before and even sometime after it became Namibia

Toromole, Etsha, Sepopa, Nokaneng: villages and hamlets in settlements of upper northwest Botswana

Tsodilo Hills: isolated group of stony hills in northwest Botswana, the site of Bushman rock paintings

Tuli Block: area of southeastern Botswana along the Limpopo River

Walvis Bay: seaport in Namibia

Acknowledgments