ST AUGUSTINE'S MASOTSHENI ? IS IT JEALOUSY OR JUST BEING TERRITORIAL?

MY MOTHER'S LAST TRIP

It's the beginning of 1970 , I am doing my 2nd grade in the same school where my mother is also a teacher. I have been moved from my grandparent's home , to live with my mother again . The sudden death of my father , in 1968 , brought about some changes in our family , two years later , the situation at home is gradually returning to normality . My mother has started to work and everyone at home , is beginning to function normally .
Surprisingly , I don't remember much about my father's death , except for some very faint recollection of seeing my mother surrounded by a group of people in our house , "sobbing". I remember most of the incidents that happened from 1969 onwards though .

My mother was born in the Mabaso family , and she was a second born in a family of six girls . Both her parents had been qualified school teachers , who were blessed to have been able to follow their individual passions and callings during their lifetime . My grandfather had been a school inspector at some stage , and later on , heeded to the call and became a full-time priest , in the Anglican church of Southern Africa .
My grandmother had chosen to be a housewife , to raise her children . I grew up at a time when both my grandparents were already retired .
They had settled comfortably at their retirement home , in Chwezi , a small village outside Nkandla , near Fort Louis . They were living comfortably , I think they had wisely planned for their retirement well in advance . My grandmother was an exceptionally gifted gardener , whose garden grew vegetables of almost every kind , year in and year out . She also had quite a sizable number of pigs . My grandfather had a herd of cattle and sheep . His sheep were so many, he did not know how many sheep he had , his home was well situated , just below the Ithala mountain . His sheep grazed and wondered around the mountain undisturbed . Whenever we came to visit them , as grandchildren , over school holidays , pigs and sheep would be slaughtered , and we would feast on them , for the rest of our school holidays . It really didn't matter , how many grandchildren had come to visit my grandparents , there was always more than enough food to feed all of us . My grandmother , also enjoyed baking ,  her readily baked buns were always available in the house , enough for everybody . None of my grandparent's children took after them in this regard , of wellness and enjoying a good quality of life . My grandparents had everything they needed , inorder for them to live comfortably .

My mother had been informed about the declining state of her father' health . He had been diagnosed with diabetes a few years earlier , and this disease had taken toll on his health . Out of concern , my mother decided to go to her parent's home in Chwezi , to pay her ailing father a visit . She could not leave me behind with anybody , so she was forced by circumstances to go to her parent's home with me . This was going to be one of those daunting long trips . We took a Railway bus from home and got off at a bus stop , which was called KwaDladla , from this bus stop , we had to walk for about an hour and a half to reach my grandparent's home .
Our long walk was not all in vain , for as soon as we arrived at my grandparent's home , we were greeted with food and refreshments . Our visit was over the weekend , we spent one full day and had to go back home the following day . I remember my grandmother saying to my mother , just before our departure , " Mhlampe usumbona okokugcina uyihlo Khanyisile , uyambona nawe ukuthi ubambhekile " ( maybe this is the last time you see your father Khanyisile , you can see for yourself that your father is very sick) . My mother cried and I also cried , not because I understood what
my grandmother had said , but because I saw my mother crying . My mother had to attend to me . After saying our goodbyes , we set out again , taking that long trip , back home . Sadly , my grandfather , passed on a few weeks after our visit . Indeed my mother's trip visit to see her ailing father , was to be the last one , just like her mother had predicted .