Visit to Bessie, Pt. 2

On Friday, I caught a bus to Mochudi to visit Bessie again (the one-hour bus ride cost all of 5 pula, or about 80 US cents). If you missed it the first time, Bessie is a friend who had lived near my family in the village of Maun for 3 years in the late 80’s. The last time I’d been there, I had driven and Bessie had met me at the post office to guide me to her home, so this time, on foot, I had a bit of a difficult time finding her house again. I wandered around the right area of the village for about 2 hours, asking people for “Magwe-Jenni” (lit. mother of Jenni) since nobody in the village knows her as Bessie, and using some of my extremely limited Setswana. It’s probably the first time a white person has wandered around that part of the village on foot, so I caught quite a few stares and strange looks. Anyway, I finally found my way to the right place, and was greeted enthusiastically by Bessie and her neighbor, Mapinki. We sat in her yard under a shade tree and chatted for a while. It was good to spend some time with her again, and this time I got to hear a lot more of her life story. The last time I visited her, both her and her husband were looking for work and were unable to find any. They have been wanting to build a house for quite a while because the one they are staying in now is falling apart and doesn’t have a proper roof – just a few sheets of tin held down by rows of stones – but they have been unable to without any source of income. This time, however, they told me with great excitement that her husband had found work building a school and clinic just a few minutes walk from their house. I also heard from a friend at Flying Mission about a possible job for Bessie doing batiks for a craft shop and was able to give Bessie some contact information for that job. Things are looking up for them, and I hope they can soon start work on their house. Even with the work starting for them now, they will have difficulty paying for their house. The builder quoted them about 4,000 Pula (about $650), but I would guess that the construction job earns them somewhere around 750 Pula ($120) per month and between feeding 4 people and keeping up with all of life’s other costs, it may take a while for them to build up enough money for the house. Bessie is desperate to get a new house, though, and says that on windy nights she can’t sleep for fear that the roof will blow off and drop all the stones holding it down on her and her family. I would like to help Bessie build her house, and if anybody wants to contribute some small amount towards the construction of their house, please contact me. I have enjoyed my visits with Bessie, and she tells me that here, sons must feed their mothers so next time I need to bring some food and make lunch for her. I’m not sure if it’s true that sons feed their mothers, but either way it sounds like a good plan to me. I’m looking forward to my next visit.