Battles in the shadows

JANET DIKOBE AND LATOYA RAKWELA

Teacher Margaret was having a discussion with Mma. Dikobe about the new order for stationery that should be made for the preschool and primary school the orphanage was now running when the telephone rang.

"Excuse me Teacher," Mma. Dikobe said and picked the receiver.

"Hello, this is Mma. Dikobe."

Teacher Margaret watched as colour drained from the older woman's face followed by a downpour of tears.

Teacher Margaret stood up from her chair wondering what was said at the other end of the line.

"I...we will be there." She said at last and dropped the receiver.

"Mma. Dikobe, what is the matter? Please what is going on?"

Mma. Dikobe sighed and wiped her face with both hands.

"I have to go to Gaborone."

"But you just came back from Gaborone last week."

"One of our children met with a misfortune...a terrible misfortune."

"Which child?" Teacher Margaret asked.

"Lauretta."

...................................

Latoya Rakwela had just finished a counselling session with one of the patients at the hospital and was preparing to go back home. Every Friday, she volunteers her services as a psychologist freely at a local hospital. A mother of two and wife of a wonderful man, she counted herself blessed to have a great career and a happy home. As she took her handbag and was about to leave, someone called her name by the corridor. she turned around to see her high school best friend, Janet Dikobe.

"Janet Dikobe! Is this really you?"

"Lato!"

The two women hugged each other happily.

"It has been so long we last saw each other. Where have you been?"

"After varsity I went to Australia to do my Masters and PhD in Psychology."

"No wonder I no longer saw you around."

"What brings you here?" Latoya asked.

Her friend's face fell and she quickly requested them to meet somewhere less crowded.

......................................

Janet took a sip of her chilled Coca Cola and looked at no where in particular as she begin to narrate her ordeal.

"You remembered how much we wanted to help the society especially those emotionally scarred?"

Latoya nodded in the affirmative.

"While you went to study Psychology, I got a degree in Social work and later a Diploma in Early childhood Education." She took another sip and this time looked her friend in the eye.

"I started with a small number of children at Love Orphanage. We have three branches now in Botswana plus four preschool and Primary school. She was the youngest baby we ever received at that time. Only few days old...weak and so loud." She smiled weakly at the memory.

"Her mother left her in a dumpsite with a letter."

"That is terrible!" Cried Latoya.

"She was not lucky with parents from the beginning; she was taken away for the first time at six years old by a white couple." She sadly narrated the Robinson's story to her friend who was by now furious at how inhuman they could be.

"Where is Lauretta now?" Latoya asked

"With her current parent? She should be there Lato! Why does trouble and pain seem to be following her everywhere?" She was shedding fresh tears all over again.

Latoya held her friend's hands from across the table and patted them. "Everything will be alright."

"You don't know that! You can't say that! Lauretta deserves to be loved and have a home, a perfect home. What has she done to deserve this terrible tragedy?"

"What tragedy? What has happened? Tell me Janet!"

Pain shone in Latoya's eyes as the latest news about Lauretta came out of Janet's mouth. How could an innocent child suffer so much agony in less than four years? How will she survive this experience?

Janet and Latoya entered the child's room on tip toe. It was a private hospital room with a vase filled with white roses on the night stand. The child on the bed with pink sheets was looking miserable. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling and her mind on a journey far away.

The nurse in charge of Lauretta walked in and smiled at them.

"When she wakes up, she could stare like this for hours and she has been sleeping a lot because of the sedatives given to her."

"Why are you keeping her sedated?" Janet asked frantically.

"She screams most of the time shouting "blood, mama, papa and that he killed her." She almost pulled put her hair some hours back but now she is calmer."

"It has been a whole week! Why was I not informed about this? She was adopted from our agency."

"That is not our work Madam. The Police contacted you when they got information."

"You know what Janet? Let us go outside and figure out what to do."

"I am taking her back home Lato. No one will ever hurt this child ever again. No one and that is a promise!" Janet said with fury in her eyes. How did she not see the signs of abuse in poor Lorato's eyes when she came with her good for nothing husband? Why did she not investigate further? How could she so desperately send off poor Lauretta into an abusive home? Forgive me my child...please forgive me.

"Mr. and Mrs. Rakwela, please take good care of Laura, she has gone through a lot already. Be gentle with her, try to understand that she has just lost someone close." The matron told the middle aged couple who will be Laura's new parents. It was now three years since Lorato Moloi's death and still her husband was still missing. Laura spent a month in at the hospital being attended to by a psychotherapist. After that her nightmares about the murder did not stop. She was watched carefully each time she goes to bed. The truth of the matter; Laura wants to keep the brutal memory of her mother's murder alive, until she finds out what happened to Patrick, then she would be able to have her peace. Laura was now thirteen and filled with intense bitterness for all that has happened to her. She felt cursed and jinxed. First it was her mother, then her first parents who were racist, then the Molois'. Deep inside her heart she prayed that her new family loves her and accept her. Mr. and Mrs. Rakwela have two children; twenty one year old David and fifteen year old Phillip. Mrs. Rakwela had decided after Phillip was born that they should help their community by adopting a child instead of making another one of their own. As Laura left Love Orphanage with her new family, the matron walked to the receptionist, "I hope we did the right thing Katlego, I hope she will finally find peace."