Last year we wrote in our blog about a blind boy named Kaone Mathiba. He was since January 2015 at a school for the blind, about 300 km from Mafikeng. He had settled well there and was proud to be allowed to go to school. Since there is no Grade R, he was immediately enrolled in Grade 1 and had started to learn Braille. In the Easter holidays, he proudly told me what he had already learned. His regularly scheduled appointments in the cancer clinic in Johannesburg went on.
In May I talked to his mother, she told me that there was something wrong with his leg. They took him out of school because of the frequent visit to the cancer clinic. They then had to stay longer in Johannesburg because it was found out that the cancer had spread. The mother believed that he had been bewitched in the school. It went back and forth; I could not convince her that his leg was so bad because of a tumor. In July, after chemotherapy, he felt a bit better.
When we came back from Germany at the end of August, Kaone called me and wanted to visit us. We did not manage because he had to go back to hospital. Last Friday we had found a date on which he would come to us. That should be today (Oct 5th). Yesterday morning his father called me and told me that Kaone had passed away in the morning. I went straight to the family to pay a visit to them. The father was quite disturbed and upset, he had provided and cared for Kaone the past months. They told me that Kaone had on Saturday scolded his parents: he reminded them on old conflicts in the family. They wondered why he spoke about passed events. To satisfy him, they asked him for forgiveness. Early in the morning he wanted to see all the children in the house (he has three brothers and three cousins), after he had spoken with everyone, he died.
We do not understand the ways of God, but I feel shame and at the same time I am proud of this young boy of six years; how bravely Kaone completed his short life and reconciled with all around him. Please think of the family, especially his younger brother Ontaetse who misses him very much .
Christel Lorato Hermann