Talent brings him deference
By Motšelisi Lali
The advice from his teacher culminated in making him a writer of books. He still hardly believes that his first book was published when he was at the age of 23, and put on syllabus at secondary schools the very same year it was published.
Mahanyane Phusumane 28, is a talented man who spends his spare time writing Sesotho books. He struggled for almost two years working on his first published poetry book called ‘Ribolla Mophatha Mofoli’, which was published in 2003.
“I couldn’t believe it was written by me, I‘ve never felt so much elated in my life. I knew that if it wasn’t because of my teacher’s advice, I would not have succeeded. I did not know how to thank her,” says Phusumane.
He felt even more flattered, when his book was put on syllabus and read for three years at secondary schools throughout the country.
Phusumane mentions that he used to play in Sesotho class but his teacher, ‘Mannena Matlanyane realized that he could excel and approached him and said; “if you can stop playing you can go places, you have got talent.” He says he could not ask the teacher what talent she meant but it never went out of his mind. “I told myself that I should work hard and realize that talent,” he says.
This is when he started creating poems. He decided to write down every poem that came into his mind until he made a collection that he thought people would like to read about.
With Phusumane, writing is fascinating but it needs talent, enthusiasm and above all the determination. “I was so young when I started writing but enthusiasm brought me fruitful results,” he adds.
Responding to why he preferred to write Sesotho books, Phusumane indicates that he likes Sesotho as his mother tongue and it is because he used to excel in Sesotho at school, so he is confident in putting words sequentially with this language.
This writer of poetry is also a soldier who joined Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in 2003 “It has always been my dream to be a soldier and while I got the job, I knew that my dream had come true. I also saw it as an opportunity for me to develop my writing of poetry,” he said.
Private (Pvt) Phusumane as called in the army indicates that he thought being a soldier would help him a lot in writing because, while on patrol, he would be able to observe most of the things that he may want to write about and learn their behaviour. These things include wild animals, places, villages, rivers, mountains and also people.
He works at the Public Affairs Office of the LDF where among others he produces the LDF news Magazine, Mara. His senior Public Affairs Officer, Pvt Pakalitha Borotho says Pvt Phusumane exposes his talent more in this Magazine. He describes him as a man of his character, a man who uses all his effort to execute his day to day duties. “He is really a hard worker,” he adds.
Pvt Borotho says that what makes Pvt Phusumane unique is his pride of knowing the Sesotho language. He mentions that he is able to use Sesotho words, proverbs and idioms properly which helps the staff a lot while translating stories in their publication into Sesotho.
Another colleague, Pvt Tšitso Ramoholi adds that Pvt Phusumane is always alone his office writing. “It is in rare cases one can find him with other people even though he is a sweet guy, and wherever he is, he is working on a book,” Pvt Ramoholi explains.
The man encountered problems however when started to write. The major problem was that he was not working at that time so he could not afford a computer so he had no where to type his work. He therefore had to rely on someone for typing. However he mentioned that only patience helped him to soldier on until the book was published.
He has submitted his second book which is on short stories to be published, while still working on the third one on poetry.
One of the popular writers of books in Lesotho and former lecturer of the National University of Lesotho, Mr Mohlalefi Bereng, testifies that Phusumane has got passion, enthusiasm and determination which will help him a lot in his writing. ”Some people produce good stuff but become lazy after publishing one book, but this man its seems to know that the future belongs to those who work hard, it is always a matter of determination,” he says.
Phusumane is a third child of the late Mr Hanne and Mrs ‘Matiisetso Phusumane in a family of six. He lost both his parents at a young age. “My father was involved in an accident and died and my mother died after short illness within a short time after my father, I had to look after my two siblings whom I am still a mother and a father today.”
However, Phusumane has been like all other Basotho boys where he grew up at Litaung Ha Lesiamo in the district of Leribe. He used to look after animals while not at school and this is where he started creating poems while communicating with animals. He enjoys reading other people’s stuff, writing and traveling.
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TO MOST, TRADITIONAL HEALERS STILL A FORCE TO RECKON WITH
By Limpho Nkoane
Inside a hut at Ha Tšosane in Maseru, Ntaoleng Mosito sits on a mat on the floor, staring attentively at a small pile of bones on the ground. Strings of beads run around her neck and across her chest. On her head, sits a cap made of leopard skin. The hut is “where the ancestors live,” and it is Ntaoleng’s consulting room.
The walls are hung with a traditional healer’s equipment, animal skins, and a string of teeth. A wooden cupboard with a glass door is packed to capacity with variety of tins, bottles and jars full of powders and liquids – Ntaoleng’s pharmacy.
A few feet away, 30-year-old Sello Khoabane sits quietly on the ground, waiting for the verdict. After reading the bones, Ntaoleng announces that Sello is well.
Ntaoleng is a traditional healer (Sangoma), and Sello is one of her patients. True to Ntaoleng’s verdict, Sello says he is not ill; in fact, he is feeling much better today than he was a month ago, when he had come to see the traditional healer due to persistent muscle pains on his shoulders and legs, as well as frequent headaches. Today he has come back to pay her M50 and to thank the healer because he is no longer in pain. Sello paid Ntaoleng M50 for consultation and medication.
Traditional healers are a well-regarded and feared group, but a lot of Basotho consult them nevertheless. Sello clearly holds Ntaoleng in high esteem. When he arrived, he first stood quietly at the entrance of her hut, waiting respectfully for permission to go in. When he was allowed, he entered on his knees, clapped his hands in greeting (a sangoma’s hand is never shaken) and went to sit quietly opposite her. However, he does not seem uncomfortable in her presence, and responds easily when she speaks to him.
“I prefer to come here because I am able to talk to her about anything that is bothering me. She speaks to me very nicely, and she is kind. And any time I come to see her, I never have to wait long before she attends to me,” says Sello.
It is very different at the government health clinic, he says. The last time he went there a year ago, he had flu. “They are not very friendly there. I cannot speak to them freely. Besides, there are always many people, so you have to wait a long time for your turn. I prefer to come here. I have a lot of confidence in her.”
Ntaoleng claims that, the Sangomas registered with Traditional Healers Association have been taught how to take a patient’s history, to recognize signs and symptoms of Tuberculosis (TB), Sexually Transmitted Infections, HIV and opportunistic infections, and how to counsel and refer patients they suspect to have TB or HIV to hospital for testing. They realize that if they refer the patients to hospital and they get help there, it will give them more confidence in the traditional healers, so they will keep coming back.
Before Sello leaves, he announced that his wife is pregnant, and in the past few days, she has been having frequent headaches. Ntaoleng advises him to tell his wife not to take any medicine, considering her condition. Instead, she should come to her for consultation and to get medication (pitsa) which will help her give birth easily. “I trust Mama. I always follow her instructions when she treats me, I always get better. So if she gives me medication and tells me to use it, I obey, ” says Sello who adds that Ntaoleng has been his family Sangoma for years. He pays her monthly- a total amounting to M300 excluding the consultation which is M20.
A happy Sello bows and claps his hands to say goodbye, then leaves the hut the same way he came in – on his knees.
Like Sello there are still people who believe in traditional healers and willing to cough up large amounts of money to get what they want, Lebohang Musi is also a patient of Ntaoleng, she waits patiently for her turn. She came to Ntaoleng not for treatment but to get help in getting back with her boyfriend and a lucky charm “my medication is finished and everything is not well”.
Ntaoleng throws her bones and not speaking to Lebohang, hands over two plastics to her and orders her to put the gray stuff on her eyebrows everyday and mix the yellow one with her body lotion. She pays M80 and leaves.
A large percentage of Basotho prefer to consult traditional healers because they believe in ancestors and feel traditional healers are closer to their ancestors therefore they can communicate with the dead, despite the fact that they are made to cough up large amounts of money.
Dr Malefetsane Liau, president of the Traditional Healers Association of Lesotho claims that traditional healers are not interested in money but the welfare of the people. “In Lesotho, when people fall ill, it is customary for them to go to their traditional healers, as they know that at times they will not even pay the consultation fee,” he says.
Dr Liau says his association started operating in 1982. It comprises all local traditional healers. He says they have good relations with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and they are working together. “We are now housed under one roof and we take pride in healing our patients,” he adds.
So, whether people who continue to flock traditional healers and pay big sums of money truly get healed is everyone’s guess.
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PC FM’S KOLOI AIMS FOR GREATER HEIGHTS
By ‘Maemile Mohai
It is very few of the listeners who have heard him read the news every morning at People’s Choice (PC) FM radio station who would believe he is only a young man of 23 years. Boitumelo Koloi has a very majestic and authoritatively deep voice that puts him in class of his own among the other news readers in the country.
Koloi, a news reader and senior reporter at PC FM is also a final year mass communication student at the Institute of Extra Mural Studies (IEMS) under the National University of Lesotho (NUL).
With a very humble back ground, born in a family where in almost the entire genealogy not one person has ever reached tertiary level of education, let alone set eyes on the university building, this down-to-earth character is almost living his dream.
But life has not always been easy for this serious looking man. “Being raised by one parent is not a very easy and appreciable experience, especially as a boy” he says.
Since his parents broke up, Boitumelo and his siblings have only known their mother for a parent. “It had come to stage whereby I understood the word ‘parent’ to mean only ‘mother’,” he says. “I remember one time when I was still at primary school and we were told to ask our parents to help us with our homework, when the teacher asked who had helped, one boy said: ‘my father’ in surprise I shouted ‘no but we were to have consulted parents not fathers’ that’s just how far I was consumed by a fatherless life” says Boitumelo with a smile.
This however did not deter Boitumelo from working hard at school. “I have always been top of my class year in-and-year out. However there was this one guy who just wouldn’t give me a break, when we were at class six, I mean that year, no matter how hard I tried, I always settled at position two,” he says.
Boitumelo went in the same passing spree right through high school and is doing the same in the mass communication programme. He has been excelling in his studies so much that, at first year he broke the record by getting a distinction with six As out of nine.
“You know, I have always loved media very much, I just didn’t know what to do to study it,” he adds. Because of his passion for media, he persevered even when he had to drop out for one year due to lack of fees.
Before joining PC FM he was at Harvest FM where he spent four months. “I am quite loving what I’m living right now, it’s like a dream come true” says Boitumelo.
Does he consider himself a celebrity? Not yet he says, “The work I’m doing right now is more of a community service than anything else.”
Boitumelo is a born-again Christian with an interest in serving the Lord in deed and in conduct. “I have come to realize that in life, one has got to do what they want to do regardless of who does or doesn’t approve of it.” He admits that deciding to surrender his life in the hands of the Creator was one of the most difficult things to do especially at his age as there is so that one has to abandon in order to fulfill the purpose of God, but quickly admits that in the end it is just a matter of making the right decisions about one’s life.
Since accepting the Lord, he has learned that life does not even need to be made easy, because “life’s hardships are meant to make us better not bitter.” To him, God is his only hope even when all hope seems to be gone. “You know what; there are people who perceive born-again Christians as some kind of perfect beings who do not experience any challenges or hardships, but that is just so wrong, no matter who you are, life has its challenges the only difference is how one receives them. Children of God are always positive while others are not, this is exactly what makes them differ.”
He concludes with an air of selflessness never forgetting to mention that having the never say die spirit is the main source of all positivism and optimism. He says a positive attitude as well as positive thinking and talking are the main drive towards attaining a lot of sought after stuff.
No wonder he seems so poised to be one of the best in the media industry in future.
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Lesotho Pioneer 