Mandisa Mabuthoe, Maun, Botswana, Writer.

 The year of 2020 so far has been an strange time for me.  It began with the birth of my second son and was immediately followed by the weirdest experience I have witnessed as a citizen of Planet Earth.  The strangest thing about this time was how inevitable it seemed, once the whole world stopped coming up with all sorts of theories and just got on with the business of the new normal, being locked down. 

I used to get very uncomfortable with being stuck in any situation or place. The past few months have taught me that being stuck is an illusion, flexibility and adaptability are the reality, my truth.  There are many real challenges that my family experienced as a result of being locked down, like loss of income, eviction and anxiety about where food will come from.  Sometimes we had the funds but no way of getting into town to buy food because at the beginning of our lockdown movement permits were difficult to obtain and the conditions were quite impractical.  So I spent more time at home than ever in my life, just being, being still, being creative, writing, reading a whole lot, being resourceful, doing housework, gardening, watching my children, resting, doing communal family activities, and more house work and then writing about all of that.  I appreciate being a writer during this strange season, it asks for reflection upon all of life's experiences, it asks for colour and imagination in interpreting these experiences and it provides detailed documentation of things many people remember only vaguely.

When our lockdown started in Botswana my son was two weeks old, my mother-in-law had just arrived to see the new baby, I had just submitted my last writing job which paid me 100USD. Before lockdown, we (my husband and I) were all set to take on a very exciting cultural tourism writing experience, a job that would take care of us financially for a very long time. We also had some literary and visual art events (including an artists residency) lined up for the peak tourist season, which in our little tourist town, Maun, begins in April when the water levels are good, which is also when the lockdown began this year.  This meant our work world was turned upside down. It was very unsettling at first but it grew my faith muscles and influenced my creativity.  Somehow we managed to stay happy, stay creating and to turn everything we know how to do into something that can be achieved digitally. Being a writer, I have always loved the concept of working from home, but it was simple before Covid season. All I had to do was write and email my work to where it needed to be. Now it involves Zoom meetings and life Facebook events.  I am still trying to figure out the digital world but its already opened up so many possibilities for my work.  I do worry a bit about printed works during this time, if print is dead now, if digital is the new permanent medium for written and audio works, if writers and performers will ever have a live audience again? 

The Prophet - Khalil Gibran

The Greatest Salesman In The World - Og Mandino

The Girl Who Drank The Moon – Kelly Barnhill

Year of Yes – Shonda Rhimes

The Whale Caller – Zakes Mda

12 Bar Blues – Patrick Neate

Women Who Run With Wolves – Clarissa M Pinkola Estes

Leaving Brooklyn – Lynn Sharon Schwartz

Love Poems From God(Twelve Sacred Voices From The East and West) – Daniel Ladinsky

Letters To My Daughter – Maya Angelou

The Sunset Limited – Cormack McCarthy

Butterflies Are Free – Leonard Gershe

Music.

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