Mmaagwe Mphese

Please, meet Kesegofetse Sylvia Ramantele, my father’s sister, my aunt and the late Percily’s (Mphese) mother. She is simply known as Mmaagwe Mphese; by her first-born child, as it’s a norm in Botswana. 
 If there is one family home that I have visited more than any is Mmaagwe Mphese’s home yard. It is only about 800 metres from my parent’s house. And I have a vivid memory of my father sending me to ask his sister’s husband, Rraagwe Mphese, when I was about 11 years old, to come assist him with the slaughtering of a goat. 

 I remember, around 1992, when my sister was at varsity, and my mother was at the week long church camp, Mmaagwe Mphese would come home to help in cooking us dinner. I particularly remember her onion flavoured ox liver, which my father, my brother and I all enjoyed.

 In 2007, when I applied for the Working Holiday Visa to the UK, it was Mmaagwe Mphese’s bank statement I used.

 Today, I’ve just been talking, over the phone with Mmaagwe Mphese, as well as Shima, her youngest son. Interestingly, my mother is not home. She is at the week long church camp meeting.

Perhaps, today’s long conversation could be likened to the delicious onion flavoured ox liver Mmaagwe Mphese fried for my father, my brother and me, 25 years ago, when my mother was at the week long church camp meeting.