Mma Lesego, our Motswana "mother", is one of the dearest people in all the world to me. My regard for her knows no bounds. For many decades, she was a hardworking woman who raised eight children in a hot and dusty climate, with no electricity and no running water. Now blind and limited greatly in what she can do, she is still a woman of great courage, perseverance, and faith.
By the time we came to Botswana in early 1992, Mma Lesego had been widowed for numerous years. She had pretty much finished raising her own children and had started raising the next generation. Then she was asked by our mission to raise Mark and me, too -- in the Setswana language and culture. When we arrived, Mma Lesego had three grown children living with her and seven grandchildren. Mark and I lived in her son's house next door, but we shared her toilet facility, so we visited her yard several times every day. In addition, we accompanied Mma Lesego almost everywhere she went -- to the kgotla (tribal meeting place), to weddings, to funerals, on social visits, to the clinic, etc. We also "helped" her with chores -- fetching firewood, building a kraal, mudding floors, and so on. (As novices, we weren't that much help.)