Most of my early childhood was spent in the settlement of Lepashe, located west of Francistown, Botswana. This village is mostly populated by the Basarwa. My family was separated from the rest of the village by a few kilometers and two streams which were not passable during rainy seasons. Our part of the village was called Makolojwane, named after a ward in Serowe, where my father originates.

Although, we were a large family we always had an extra family living with us. Our home was also a cattle post and lands hence the need for extra hands. My parents would raise children from the village and aid them through school. There was a pattern though. The secondary school was located about 60 kilometers away from the village;and whenever these children left for secondary school they would leave our family for good. It was emotionally taxing for us kids because we grew attached to them. Well, they saw it as freedom because they would quit school either through teenage pregnancy for girls or boys just absconding. Education did not make much sense to this community at the time and no amount of coercion could change that. The long term effects of their actions were of no consequence.

Most of them, especially men and boys, would be arrested for petty crimes. One man once expressed that prison was good because they never went hungry. My father would relate to us how one villager couldn’t believe that he had never been to prison. ‘At your age?’, he had exclaimed, “But how?”. He could not fathom a life outside what he had always known.

In the Old Testament of the Bible, Moses had a message from God to deliver his people out of bondage. He was very passionate about his call-went to the extent of killing a few Egyptians in the process to protect his kinsmen. His message was met with resistance not only by the oppressor but by the very people he wanted to free. They had found comfort in oppression. They could not fathom any other life.

Ironically, the message of hope is often met with doubt and criticism. Great men and women in history were bruised in their quest to free people, which people sometimes scorned and sold them out. Yes, they carried an embraceable message but the recipients would often shun it because it seemed farfetched or too good to be true. I’m inclined to agree with those who say that enslavement of the mind is the worst form of slavery, for action will only follow what the mind has perceived. Therefore if the mind has no room for freedom, freedom will remain a farfetched dream.