abounding? The experiment produced the kindly ditlhamane, did it not?
“And in these ditlhamane, which, okay, say we know them to be untrue, we have been told Jesus is going forth and healing without charge, healing the sick like a nyanga. But he asks nothing for this service.
“Go to the dingaka in Broadhurst and Bontleng and see if you must pay them. It is the way it is. You yourself, if I may dare to say this, you do not give your injections without charge…”
Morel was aggrieved. “Ah but I do. I do. So much of my practice here is charitable, my brother. In fact you know this.”
“For the most part, is what I am saying. Look, man, I am your friend. I am not criticizing. It is the way it must be done. If you go to hospital, in many cases you must take your own food. And you as a doctor must replenish when your stocks of medication are low, and you must pay out sums for that. Gosiame.
“And so in the ditlhamane, this man Jesus says that he knows the heart of God and God wishes the Batswana to live in peace and be kind to enemies, which if I may say, our great Botswana Defence Force, they are very Christian when it comes to the Boers pushing over into our country and killing and killing. But I am just joking about it. They are turning the other cheek. Nah, I am joking.
“Nah, I think I am saying that in these tales you see this man Jesus never to be surcharging for any act of his—although it is true you can take him to dinner at times!
“So… this man says there is a God who is watching you and wants you to be kind, be pleasant all round, stay from the courts and judges, give with your left hand and right to the beggars and if someone asks can you lend me something you should agree. In fact, you must forget that you have made such a loan. You must give him your coat, in fact.
“And when you marry, remain with your wife.
“So, right. So these stories are saying to behave in these ways and if you fail you are going to burn up in hell.
“And so we see this man… but I forgot about the children. He says to bless them. Which is very good for Batswana to be told. Because we are working these children all day, making them fetch like dogs and sending them off to watch cattle, whatever we wish.
“Ehe, and I forgot as well about adultery. This is also good advice for the Batswana, else these sex games in the schools will go on and on with more young girls falling pregnant as they do now every year in every school. It is true here in the capital and it is worse in Mahalapye. So there is not just one tribe to blame. And the fathers of these babies, who are they? Teachers, often enough, or men who just come creeping…
“So if we could do one tenth of what Jesus is saying, Botswana would be a very much better country. And…”
“Okay I think your point is made, Keregang. And I would like to answer it, if I may.” Morel was being curt.
“I must finish, rra. Because I know these are thoughts that many are having amongst those who are here tonight and who love you, as I do, as you know.
“And yes, he says, Jesus, if you give to charity, do so privately not making a show, which, I point out, is how you do it, so you must be a Christian of some kind. No, I am fooling. But at these fetes and benefit doings it is very different, with great displays as to who is most generous. But I was fooling, rra. You are no Christian.
“So. And don’t lay up gold. Take the log from your eye. Beware false prophets. So that is the man, ecce homo, as they put it. That is the man in the tale.
“And so the story comes to its end… And what is its end?
“Domkrag hates him and puts him on a cross to die in pain. Rome is Domkrag.
“So Domkrag kills this man who is the friend of the poor people.
“Sha!”
Ray knew what Kerekang was doing. Sha was a strong expression, meaning shame, and it was accompanied by a sharp wagging of the right hand.
“Sha! But… But he rises from the cross, this man, and is not dead, he is seen rising up, walking about, you can see his wounds, you can put your hand in his right side to test if this is the man. So he rises to be with God… and what does he leave the Batswana?
“I can tell you that many of them will say this man is still hereabout, like a mist, or the wind. And he has left his words of what you must do and it is this… it is this, rra…
“That you must try to please God by good action and kindness. In the church they will help you to be like God’s son.
“So, and now are some people arriving who say all this is mere lies, and very mistaken.
“But I am saying to you, wait, sir. Sir, wait.
“Because if you will admit they are making a hell in Botswana for the poor, the ones without cattle or with cattle but no borehole, if you wish to admit this, why shall you cast off these stories that can help us to gather up these poor, these selahtliwa, these outcasts, and make them an army against this hell? Hell is amongst us tonight, nearby to this house, in Old Naledi and Bontleng, and in the bush we can walk into hell, straight into it, like that. Where I stay is hell, in Bontleng. I want to extinguish this hell, my friend. I shall do it. I tell you so tonight.
“Now soon I will be finished… Rra… Rra, these tales are with us already, here. They are in the minds of the people and they are as stones, hard things, and you are facing a battle to unearth them. You can see it when the people flood in
“Because. Because if we are to clear this hell that we have made with the help of the makhoa, all the people must come with us. We must have every man! We must have men of every kind, from those who are wise, very wise, like yourself, because you do oppose this hell, down to the fools if need be.
“Rra, I say these tales of Jesus can help us. Think of Germany, the Peasant Wars, and the destruction of the princes. And you can go to Aiyetoro, in Nigeria, and see many people living and working as one, with no one rich, and they are all Christian, there, at Aiyetoro.
“Rra, this is what I must say… I have said it…
“What I say is, let everyone come who will, to join hands to cast hell from us. I will take every Christian, I will take all good people. But I will take bad people, devils, too, if I can find them and I can tell them a story to make them stay alongside me. My friend, you are casting down a sword before you go to battle.
“And am I sorry to be saying these things to you. I have learned many things here, coming to these teas and evenings of yours, and I have got from you reading I shall keep by me always, and I shall think of you. I have books enough and lists of books enough to keep my eyes open until I die. E. P. Sanders, Mr. Vermes. Robert Ingersoll, great thinker. I like him. And this fine book
“Rra, for a long time I have wished to say this to you, that I thank you. You have fed me. So I am saying all this now because I will be going away at some time, I think soon. Yes. But I want to say something to clear my heart. It is a small thing.
“I know what you say about the Roman church very well and it is true. But I held myself from saying what I think, at times. So, rra… I think it is very good to have saints. I like it. Perhaps not those saints they recommend. But to raise up some one or two people or more, singled out to be praised for a good life, for honor, is a thing I like. I think we should have saints of our own kind, when the world is more what it should be. I cannot bring my heart against this church, as you would say I must. And as well I think we must see this church as very clever, not only for saints but for saying they can take so many homosexualists and have them work to build the church and since they have no heirs their work will benefit the church alone. And this is a point, that the church is not saying see how in the Bible it says you are evil, get away from this place, oh my no. No, it says abide here, and do not express yourself toward boys, and all will be well. And they have benefited greatly from homosexualism, a thing their scriptures tell them to hate and abjure.
“So this is what I wish to say to you. I know your heart, my brother.
“Your heart is for a world far better than this one, of course. We are brothers. Your heart is for a world
