About two years ago I stubbornly decided to embark on a very challenging, isolating and fulfilling personal mission. Partly inspired by my exciting experience in Scotland (both positive and negative); my quest to study my family World War history led to me, with great interest, studying the socio-economic environment of Botswana, arguably at the highest level.
I did not only study about the much vaunted success story of Botswana, but also the grinding poverty, amid plenty. I studied about legends of the motherland: Mme Edith Mmusi, Rre Roy Sesana, Captain Atamelang Koboyankwe, Judge Unity Dow. I studied of the Wayeyi’s oppression in the Tswana-dominated spaces, courtesy of the great Professor Lydia Nyati-Saleshando(Ramahobo).
More importantly, for my research study, I sat down with the hale and hearty 92 year old Rre Mogotsi of Gasita, in Gasita. Before I went to Gasita; my 92 year old grandmother sang a song, from the 70s, about Mogotsi, his wife, and daughter.
Although this is probably a lifetime journey, I’m very pleased to claim that I have arrived, rather, I have found the path, my route.
P.S. 2 Years Ago:
“I studied History at Secondary School. I loved History at High School. I passed History with an A at High School. I studied about Mzilikazi, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, World War 1 and the Peace Treaty of Versailles, World War 2, Mfecane Wars and The Great Trek.
World War 1 and 2 Veterans: My father’s uncle, my mother’s grandfather and my grandfather’s cousins were definately not mentioned or even acknowledged anywhere in the World War History that I excellently studied at Seepapitso Secondary School. Of course, the ‘Other’ Armies were self-congratulatory mentioned. Clearly, “curriculum reform to reflect the relevance of the African setting did not take place. Western curricula values continued to be reinforced after independence” (Sifuna 2008).
I want to study my Family World War 1 and 2; and I am studying that History. This time: I am not after an A, I am after knowledge, knowledge of myself and maybe of others?”
