My mother had taken me to a hairdresser to plait my hair since salons were rare in those days. That time, your neighbour could even plait your hair free of charge. Since I was the only female in my family, followed by twin brothers, my mother did not have a problem of paying a hairdresser once a month to plait my hair.I had only two days with my new hairstyle and I had plaited condro, which was fashionable during our times. Surprisingly my grandmother ordered me to undo my hair, and then I said what? as I demanded to know why. The old woman, who passed away when I was expecting my only child, insisted that I undo my hair or else she would totally remove it with a razor blade and I obliged without asking more questions.
After undoing my hair I was asked to wash it with washing powder since a shampoo was not enough. After washing my hair I was advised not to comb it as usual and also not to apply any body lotion after taking a bath and I obliged. It was on a Saturday afternoon that my late cousin and I were informed that we were going to join bojale.We left home at around 3pm with my late grandmother to Ra Kgamanyane ward where our names were registered. Then grandmother left us and went back home since she was already too old and therefore could not spend some time with us at bojale. However, we were advised not to worry because we were in good hands. My mother was then working in Gaborone and did not know that grandmother had taken us to bojale.We put on miniskirts when we went there and were also advised not to wear any perfume or anything that smells nice because the old women at bojale would be mad with us, as this (perfume) was not part of our culture. We started learning bojale songs and the steps for each song - and the song that I only knew since it was common was 'Mmamodisano wa mangana, o phakeletse metsi o jele eng?' The song simply asks a woman why she is drinking too much water in the morning and what she had eaten. We were also taught different songs each day until we knew all of them, including their steps. I thought bojale was fun, but little did I realise that problems were coming.
