It was today in 2005 when Rev Majoe of the Methodist Church stood before an empty grave, the grave was hungry, it patiently opened its mouth wide open for the son of soil, the man who was at one stage a very strong and strict man, a loyal man to his employers Brenda Blignaut, Brenda and Les, her husband, left this man alone managing their farm, Lekkerlag , Coligny, he looked after their cattle, they permitted him to slaughter whenever we felt like eating meat. But my father, August Tolo Nkate, only slaughtered one cow after five years, he would always tell us my children you need to be loyal to your job, my employers left me here because they trusted me. If I want I can even steal their cattle for the dont know how many they are, but God sees us, I dont want to miss Heaven because of dishonesty. A few cattle we have is enough, if God wants HE will increase them. In Tlhabologang graveyard, I saw my mom wearing black, surrounded by family members, she looked lost and hurt, this was the most difficult any person goes through to bid someone you had lived with for decades a farewell, she knew that they will not meet again, he is history, we will only have memories of him, his voice was gone for good. As if thinking that the grave would swallow him instead, Rev Majoe hurried to finish the service, I could read every word he pronounced, then came those ugly words, ash to ash, dust to dust, everyone related to this man was given soil to pour in the grave we burst out crying, slowly the coffin was lowered in the hungry grave, we knew we were no longer going to see him, only memories of him linger in our minds. We thank you God for borrowing us him, we thank you that he bore and grew us up, irrespective of him being illiterate he wanted us to go to school and have a better life than him. May he enjoy his life on the other side of life.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 07:35:03 +0000