It was Saturday, three days after Kganya and Lethabo had met Gogo Lesedi. Kganya was at home reading a magazine on the couch while her mother was busy in the kitchen. While Kganya was flipping through the magazine, looking at the skinny models, there was a knock on the door. She put the magazine on one side and stood up to answer the door.

Kganya opened the door, and she was shocked by who was on the other side. It couldn’t be. She just stood there with her eyes wide open. Her mouth formed a big O. She froze.

“Nnana, who is it?” her mother asked from the kitchen, but Kganya was too stunned to answer her.

“Dumela, Kganya,” Gogo Lesedi greeted her with a kind smile.

“Um … hello …” Kganya stuttered.

“Nnana, who was knocking at the door?” Her mother came to the living room, wiping her hands with a dish cloth which she put in a big pocket in the front of her blue apron.

“It’s …” Kganya remembered that she hadn’t told her mother about that day they met Gogo Lesedi after school. So she didn’t know how to introduce Gogo Lesedi to her mother. She just moved aside so her mother could see for herself.

“Dumela, I’m Gogo Lesedi.” Gogo Lesedi bent her knees a little and clapped her hands twice, just as she did when Kganya was with Lethabo.

“Hi, Gogo Lesedi. Do come in,” her mother welcomed Gogo Lesedi in with a smile.

***

When Gogo Lesedi sat down, Ntombi quickly asked if she needed anything to drink. Gogo Lesedi said water would be fine. Ntombi went to the kitchen and took off her apron and hung it on the rail above the stove. She took out the glass and poured water from the faucet and brought it to the living room.

“Thank you.” Gogo Lesedi softly clapped her hands twice and accepted the offered glass of water.

Ntombi now understood that that was how Gogo Lesedi greeted and thanked people. She didn’t shake their hands or wave at them. Instead, she softly clapped her hands twice while bending her knees a little.

After sitting down, opposite her, Ntombi turned to her daughter who looked awkward. It was as if she had seen a ghost.

“You can go to your room, Kganya, while we talk as adults,” Ntombi told her daughter.

When Kganya stood up and was about to leave the room, Gogo Lesedi told her she could stay.

“I’m here because of her,” Gogo Lesedi told the confused-looking Ntombi.

Ntombi didn’t want to ask her what she meant, as that would be rude, so she nodded at Kganya who proceeded to sit down obediently.

After Gogo Lesedi drank some water, she placed the half-filled glass on the table near her, now prepared to state the purpose of her unexpected visit.

“Mama Kganya, I am Gogo Lesedi. I have a special gift. I see things that many people don’t see. With the guidance of my Elders, I am able to have visions that help me to do certain things to help people,” Gogo Lesedi said, slowly and calmly.

Ntombi just sat there and took in everything Gogo Lesedi said. She wanted to hear where she was going with this.

“It is my Elders who have led me to this house,” Gogo Lesedi continued. “They have led me here because they believe your daughter, Kganya, might be in danger.”

Ntombi jerked her head in the direction of Kganya as if she had just vanished from the couch, but she was still sitting there, shocked as she was.

“Danger? What danger?” Ntombi leaned closer, as if she didn’t want to miss anything Gogo Lesedi was about to say.

“Right now I’m not sure, but they told me that your daughter may be in great danger so I had to come here and assist her. I was hoping you would let me check her.”

Ntombi couldn’t believe this. She composed herself so she could reply to Gog Lesedi in a calm voice.

“So you come here, telling me my daughter might be in danger, and when I ask you what danger, you tell me you want me to let you check her?” Although she tried, Ntombi’s voice wasn’t calm at all.

“I didn’t mean to offend and to disrespect—”

Before Gogo Lesedi could finish, Ntombi cut her in. “You disrespected me the second you came here and told me that my daughter might be in danger, but you don’t know what danger is that.”

Gogo Lesedi got quiet, as if she didn’t know what to say, but Ntombi didn’t care. She was now angry. She didn’t trust people like Gogo Lesedi. The sangomas and the prophets preyed on vulnerable people so they could exploit them for everything they owned before leaving them dry. She would not be one of those people. So before Gogo Lesedi could speak another word, Ntombi stood up and said, “I think it’s time you leave.”

“But Mama Kganya,” Gogo Lesedi tried to talk to her, but Ntombi wasn’t having any of it.

“No buts. Get out of my house. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”

“Ok, I am leaving.” Gogo Lesedi looked at Kganya, and looked back at Ntombi. She bent her knees, clapped her hands twice, and left.

After making sure she was out of the gate, Ntombi closed the door, and looked at Kganya who just stood there expressionless. “Can you believe it? Sebete se sekana — such audacity!” She clicked her tongue in annoyance, and went to the kitchen to continue cooking lunch.

Tell us: Respecting other’s beliefs can be difficult. Ntombi is annoyed but how else could she have handled her feelings about what Gogo Lesedi believes?