The collector of treasures

About the author



Bessie Head



Bessie Head was born on 6^th July 1937 in Pietermaritzburg.  Bessy Emery, the mother of Bessie Head, was judged mad after her elicit relationship with a black man who worked on her farm. Due to the laws of apartheid, the act of people from different cultural backgrounds being in a relationship was regarded as insipid and illicit. Even though Bessie Head was relegated due to being born out of a mixed breed, her mother had saved up some money for her education. Bessie Head worked as for a minimum period of three years and then moved to Johannesburg to kick off his career as a Journalist. Some of her articles were published in Drum magazine.

Bessie Head lived in the times were in South Africa racial discrimination and prejudice was at its highestpeak. By the year 1960 she moved to live in district six, Cape Town. All the years having to deal with the plight of racial discrimination, she longed to live in a more harmonious state, where racial lines had no place to hinder relations of mankind due to the color pigment of the skin. It was then that after her unsuccessful marriage to Harold Head in 1962, that she moved to Botswana to start her life afresh. Although her living in Botswana birthed out new challenges, a delay of her citizenship being one, her exile home finally gave her citizenshipthat she long waited for.

Bessie Head lived most of her life inSerowe among other refugees. Although, at the time, Botswana was under the iron fist of colonial rule, she was astonished by the by the distinctive spirit and attitude of the Botswana people and their cultural lifestyle of ancient Africa. Her new home provided her with that which she longed for,a sense of belonging.

She wrote her first novel titled: When rain clouds gather in 1959 and then got published in NewYork. After suffering from a nervous breakdown in 1967, Maru was her second novel which got published and announced her comeback to the world of literature in 1971.A question of power was her third novel which was published in 1973. Followed by her compilation of short stories, The collector of treasures was published in 1977. Serowe village of the rainwind was the last novel which got published under her name in 1981. After travelling some parts of the world such as Germany and Australia, she passed away in her new home of Botswana.

Top three short stories of the collector of treasures

Jacob: a story of a faith healing priest

Isn’t amazing how we as human beings can be full of prejudice without realizing it. We turn to have preferential treatment, judging one by their status in the community we live in. A rich individual is the first on the list to be catered for than a homeless man on the street. This is how it is sometimes and most of the time, we turn to boost about how good and righteous we are in our deeds. But are we, really?

The short story is about is about two prophets, one good, one evil, who lived in a village called Makaleng located in Botswana. One of the prophets, Jacob, lived in rags and scatters; he had no shoes to wear and lived in a poorly furnitured house. He relied on his God for everything he was in need of, most especially encouragement to keep him through the hardships he had to endure. He was born out of a mixed marriage of a Motswana woman and a wealthy German man who was a cattle trader. After s tragic death of Jacob’s parents, Jacob and his twin brother Isaac where left under the merciless hands of the Uncle.

From a lifestyle of leisure to penury, the brothers had to adapt to the new living conditions. Subjected to slavery in the harness of their own uncle, no blanked was given to them to keep them worm in the night and porridge and salt was their daily meal. The twins did all the hard work in their uncle’s household whiletheir uncle’s children lived like kings with their cousin’s inheritance.  Theliving conditions the brothers were subjected under were too hard to bear and as a result, Jacob’s twin brother Isaac died under those conditions.

The author (Bessie Head)brings a solid point to the fore; that we turn to judge the actions of Man, forgetting that there is a greater influence from their past which causes them to behave in a certain manner.

Jacob emerged to become a businessman, owning a beer brewing business in the village to maintain an expensive lifestyle his wife desired. Obsessed with success and determined not to let anyone one steal from him like his uncle did. Jacob found himself in the same position as he did after the death of his parents, everything he had worked hard for got stolen within a blink of an eye. It was at this point in time that Jacob was called by God to live his family and fulfil what the almighty has called him to fulfil. Separated from his family, Jacob lived in the eastern part of the village but was not welcomed by Lebojang. Lebojang was also a prophet who hismiraculous prophesies and healing powers were rooted in the grounds of witchcraft. His congregation was aware of his partial treatment towards them, but what they were not aware of was, Lebojang wore a mask of a priest but being a witch at heart.

Lebojang used human body parts to enhance his spiritual abilities. In order to obtain human body parts particularly those from children, Lebojang formed an alliance with the chief of the village and Bogosi to kill children for their body parts.

A man in passing from his workplace overheard an argument taking place within the bushes over; who were to take certain body parts and who were not supposed to. Lebojang and his allies were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The erroneous believe of using human organs to accumulate wealth still continues in mos parts of Africa. Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporter, Zoe Daniel did a documentary– highlighting the man slaughter currently taking place in South Africa. It is estimated that about 300 people fall victims into this practice and the favourite targets are children. It is believed that the aim is not to kill but to harvest human organs while they are still alive.     

The wind and a boy

The short story is about an illegitimate youngman called Friedman who lived with his grandmother in the Gasefete–molemo ward in Botswana. The boy in his teenage years, about to turn fourteen years, was an absolute darling in the eyes of all women in the village. Using his innocent looks as an advantage, as no parent in the village could think of Friedman doing wrong like any other teenager would, Friedman manipulated every opportunity he got to be the naughtiest of them all.

While he pioneered all wrong doings in the village for the purposes of him and his friends having a good laugh about it; his friends paid for every sin he had committed just for a good laugh they sought to have. Like any other human being the villagers were deceived by the looks of the young man.

The author highlights that other than the looks of the young man had, Friedman was talented with many things apart from having a pretty face and having a lilt voice. He was the best wire car designer amongst his peers and an absolute mastermind for his age. This made him to be every girl’s dream and every boy’s envy in the village.

Like his grandmother he was wit and coherent with his approach to life. After Friedman had turned fourteen, his mother who lived in the urban areas because of work bought him a bicycle as a birthday present. After a few test rides and exploring his new toy, the two were inseparable. It was after his grandmother had sent him to buy something for her that Friedman took what turned out to be his last ride on his bicycle.

As Friedman was riding through and with the wind, he was hit by an unlicensed truck which dragged him a few metres away from the exact sport of the accident. The truck driver belonged to an elitist civil–servant class which were earning a lot of money after gaining independence. This class of elitist were in such a hurry to of being respected and seen as dignitaries amongst common dwellers. And as a result they bought road unworthy cars in pursuit of being modern citizens which resulted in many lives being lost due to car accidents, amongst them was the life of Friedman.

In this short story we realise that what Friedman had always wanted (a bicycle) led to his tragic death. Bessie Head brings a solid point to the fore that one has to be grateful for what one has and never be in a rush to obtain what one desires, for it might be the end of the road for them. In today’s South Africa, were people obtain their driving licences without going through driving tests. Many innocent lives are lost through road accidents. We as the recipient of the news in today’s modern world turn to be entertained by such media reports.

Kgotla

Beauty dwells in the eyes of the beholder. Well, in this case, it is rather strange how a blind man ends up with two women at the palm of his hand. One beautiful filled with wisdom and calm reasoning and the other being a widow–breaking all laws of tradition just to be with a blind man.

These laws required the widow to live without a man for a minimum period of twelve months. Was it that Gobosamang, blind as he was; had the ability to sweep women off their feet? Or was it peaty they had towards him and if so, how does it justify the two women fighting over him? The author makes it clear that, it was his ability to cause women with words and not any other thing.

All the drama between the two women takes place in the tribal court in a Botswana village. The first wife, beautiful as she was, was claiming back her husband from the widow who also claimed that Gobosamang (the blind man) was her husband.

The tribal court being respected for its just judgementswere unable to come up with a conclusion in this matter. What made it mindboggling for the tribal court was that the first wife left her husband because of his preconceived ideasthat she was cheating. She had now returned to her husband only to find him having moved on with his life with another woman. Trying to fight to have her husband back the second wife was reluctant to let go. The tribal court was puzzled at this matter, not knowing how to arrive to a logical conclusion which would please both parties.

The author highlights an old saying that says “Good things come from afar” to introduce the wit of the first wife who is from Rhodesia. She came up with a suitable conclusion saying that she would pay off the money the widow had spent with her husband on a monthly basis, so long as the widow left them in peace. Her conclusion brought a sigh of relief to the oust tribal court as the widow agreed with the terms.