When rain clouds gather…!
Source : KUTLWANO
Author : Ndingililo Gaoswediwe
Location : NATA
Event : Village profile
Article: Ndingililo Gaoswediwe
Photo: Phenyo MoalosiSpring has just set in but during this particular Sunday, the 600 or so populated small village of Sepako, 50 kilometres from Nata Village, is sleepy. Maybe it is because of the Makgadikgadi Epic fervor, Kutlwano team concludes. Catching the day`s fattest worms are five kids, three of whom reluctantly direct us to the village leader`s homestead while two are moving down stream and one is holding a three quarter empty packet of Tsabana.
The clock strikes the hour eight. It is getting warmer but the patches of white clouds become dense to keep the sun under arrest from dawn to dusk. The clouds signify a countdown to the first rains that under normal circumstances the country receives during the independence month - September.
Surprisingly, the cumulonimbus clouds that would soon be heavily pregnant with rain appear not to bother the inhabitants despite the village being a flood prone area. Just last year it was a scene of heavy floods that cut off all communication to the village. Our car pulls off the road and we meet Kgosi Joseph Ramaditse whose yard is a spit away from the main road.
Prior to exchanging pleasantries with the convivial kgosi, the team, for a few minutes diverts its attention to the chief`s two little grandsons. “Eish, bona gore go ya go tswa di hunk tse di ntseng jang! Ma Gaborone a ka moso.” Kgosi Ramaditse gate crushes the conversation and quips that he indeed has the best breeds and a drive around the village begins. First, he identifies houses that were submerged in water during the past rainy seasons and explains that the low lying village is characterised by wells that one can easily spot. Because of these wells, residents are left with no option but to adopt a scattered settlement pattern.
He explains that he does not see the floods that swept across the village last season as any to cause alarm despite the damage caused to mud huts. To him, it is something they have to live with. Last year between the months of January and February, he says the flooding lasted for almost a month, thus isolating Matare ward that was recently gazetted, from Basotho, Mokgacha, Nkadzinkulu and Gexana wards that are on the western side of Tsebanana stream that divides the village into two. The disaster management team rescued the villagers with boats.
“Ga gona ka fa re ka dirang ka teng, re tshepisitswe borogo jwa mapako mme nako kgolo re ntse re letile ga re itse gore a kgang ke madi kgotsa jang, (there is nothing we can do, we are still waiting in vain for the construction of a bridge that we had been promised),” explains Kgosi Ramaditse as he points to an wide low lying stretch of land that becomes water logged during heavy falls.
The floods, he says result when Nata River is full and Tsebanana stream would have nowhere to empty its contents. And because the stream is very shallow, the water would find other channels, thus causing floods.
Even the dead are not spared. The graveyard also becomes water logged. Kgosi Ramaditse would then engage other authorities to seek permission to bury the dead in raised areas, a reason some graves are isolated.
As we leave the village dominated by Basarwa and traces of Basotho and other tribes, suddenly it springs back to life as people are seen frequenting artificial wells that are scattered along the stream. The wells are the main source of water while stand pipes are not the village favourite source since they believe the water tastes bad. ENDS
Teaser:
A patch of less dense clouds fades the Sunday morning rays away. Soon there is an unfriendly breeze that oozes from Matare ward across Tsebanana brook diffusing into the rest of the village. By chance, if the chilly breeze comes into contact with a naked skin, it leaves it looking like a prickled pullet.
