Mama, if you are alive, you will remember Mr Edward Maphoso Tshakalisa. You had me and my twin sister with him 1966 in Maseru, Lesotho. You looked after your twin girls until they were six months and decided to lighten your burden by leaving me at my father’s home in Esigodini (Umzingwane then), Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia then) . I heard, you left me well wrapped and my bag and a note to my father next to me in the verandah at the big white house. I was discovered when I was crying. People do not even know how long I had been in that verandah.
Thank you for wanting to take me from my father’s hands when i was around ten years. Had I been bigger and more mature then, I am sure I would have asked you many questions and we could have been in touch now.
I am sorry I could not relate with you in any way because I had never heard about you and it was my first time to see you. All I remember about you is you were a tall, slim, light in complexion and beautiful woman clad in an African outfit when you came to our Mhondoro home and you were crying. When you were talking to my mother, you used a language that I could not comprehend. I remember you went in the company of my brothers around sunset to one of my father’s sister’s place and slept there. You came back in the morning when Baba was home and he refused to hand me over to you and he asked you to leave his home and never to try to contact me again. You left our place weeping.
I was scared of you and feared that you would steal me from the home and people that I had known as family from childhood.
When I asked my parents what your visit meant, they both said they would tell me the whole story when I was older. Unfortunately, they passed way when I was still a little girl. They said your name was Rose or Lizzie. Gathering information about you from family members was and is still a nightmare.
Mama, I want to meet you and my twin. It is very painful that I do not know your names and where you may be. I am not at all angry but always thank God that you did not abort us, the twins.
Please if you are alive, contact me on 00 263 779 406 980 or on stshakalisa@yahoo.com.
If anyone knows about this lady and where she may be and where her other daughter may be, please contact me.
I love you and my twin and pray that one day I will meet you.
Sibusiso (Busi) Tshakalisa
Harare, Zimbabwe
