The multitudes of evergreen trees, together with radiant and captivating flowers, welcome you upon your arrival at the lovely area. One could tell by the water flowing to the nearby streams that it had recently poured. The atmosphere was clear, making inhaling and exhaling easier. Air pollution was the last thing on the minds of the people who resided in the beautiful area, and almost everywhere there, there was a breath of fresh air.

Children were playing next to the gates of their homes, running around carefree. The density of the population was more intimate, so people had close interactions with each other. It was a rural village where the Marema family had been residing for the past twenty years, and all of their children were born and raised there.

The Marema family believed in family values, compassion and how God and their ancestors had and will always protect them through thick and thin, and above and beyond all the obstacles of the world. They had been blessed with two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter was Rearabilwe, a Tswana name which meant “we have been answered”. She was followed by their son, Oitumetse, meaning “he is happy”. Lastly, there was Mororiseng, which translated to “Praise him”.

Mrs Marema had planned her children’s names long before they were even conceived. She used to worry about how she was slowly but surely aging without children. But, at the age of thirty, after six years in marriage with her husband, they were excited to learn that they were pregnant. That was when they named their firstborn, explaining how God and the ancestors had answered their prayers.

A few years after their first child, Mr and Mrs Marema named their son Oitumetse, because Mr Marema had been longing to have a son after he recently got the opportunity to raise a daughter. “I am now happy because I have a boy I’ll herd my cattle with,” he had said.

The married couple’s third child was a girl, which was why they saw it fit to say those were, indeed, blessings. “Let us praise our God and the gods for blessing us, yet again, with a beautiful daughter,” they both said.

Earlier, right after they got married, there was hearsay that Mrs Marema was unable to conceive children, and the rumours from their village spread like veld fires during winter. Unfortunately, no one knew where they first started.

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