Volume 65 December 2026-January 2026 : Feature

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ven as they narrated before me the tales of their sufferings, it was very clear that, unless I step in their shoes, I would never come to understand the pangs of rejection and solitude they have endured to a severe degree for so long a time nor the blissful joy that came when they fell in love. Mpho Babedi, a 25 year old woman from Gabane, came into my office holding Mohlomi Tladi,26 with her hand.  The two, who are Limkongkwing University students had come to ask for space to have their work published.

Something about the way they behaved told me they were more than just classmates. When I asked if they were lovers, the answer was in the affirmative. They went to narrate how they met and their journeys as they grew up. Mohlomi is blind and walks with the aid of a stick while Mpho who has albinism has to tilt her head up in an effort to longate her sight as she sees only to a certain degree.  We often say love is blind, love is flawless, true love never not knowing  what that really means. Mpho and Mohlomi seem to have the answer-they truly know that, “Love is blind,” These two young people, after living in excess of misery have finally found peace in each others arms. 

Like in many other countries, since birth, Mpho, has accustomed herself to dealing with rejection simply because she lives with albinism or as some people would say, she is an albino. “My parents love me, but many people disapprove me,” as she tells me her mind takes a leap into the past where she unravels a conversation between her father and one of her relatives, “Bona fela gore o re tsiseditse golo mo go ntseng jang,” her close relative told her father. 

 She was very young at that time, but the words would live to rob her happiness and exuberance for almost her entire youth. “It felt like the sky was falling on me, I would just stay in the house and never wanted to go out,” she said. However, kind words and her parents` love often elevated her feelings and temporarily subdued and tranquilized her grief. 

 Like she tells us, she would then spent time searching for affection in shallow places, submitting without reserving any bit of herself to people who didn`t deserve. The more she did that the more she got hurt. “I had one boyfriend who was cheating and one was very abusive,” she said. One day she took stock of herself and decided to stop shoving pieces of the puzzle where they did not fit.

 Once she took that stand, the right people came into her life until finally his Romeo, Mohlomi, like an angel unexpectedly, came to pull on her heart strings producing the sweetest melody of love.  “He is the only thing I love in this world and I want all of him to myself. He is my obsession,” she says.

How Mohlomi lost his sight is a sad story. It was late at night, he was in his study room doing his architecture assignment. Soon lines he was drawing on the paper started to slant, “I didn`t know what was happening. So I called my colleague who told me that the lines were okay,” he said. 

Mohlomi dismissed that for fatigue and went to rest but the following morning as he was nearing the railway line on the way to class, the lines of the railway also slanted and suddenly his world turned dark until today.

 Mohlomi agrees that the saying that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder does not apply to him but instead he delights himself by filling his mind with images of how Mpho looks like. “How she looks like is just my imagination, but I know how she walks and how she smells and how she talks,” he said and added that, “The world is a better place now because of Mpho,”

How they met

The two love birds met at the Limkongkwing University, as Mpho put it. “I used to see him struggle to cross the road into university and on many occasions he will be stranded after class waiting for someone to assist him and I was always willing to do that. We got to know each other until we fell in love,” says Mpho.

Mohlomi says during those times when Mpho came to his aid, they talked about each other`s troubles and they realized they were faced with almost similar challenges and thus they sought refuge in each other. “We talked a lot while I stayed behind in class, we laughed,” he says. ENDS

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