Short stories
Basali! Stories by and about Women in Lesotho
K. Limakatso Kendall · 1995
Synopsis
The collection brings together stories of women of Lesotho, often first told in Sesotho by those who lived them, then collected, transcribed and translated into English by students, who also wrote some of them. They deal with the racial persecution inherited from neighbouring apartheid, the patriarchal order, domestic violence, the bonds between women and education, “a weapon to fight life”; a single poem slips in, “The Universe”.
Context
Published in 1995 by the University of Natal Press, in 136 pages, the collection was born of a two-year stay by Kendall in Lesotho. Among the texts are “Three Moments in a Marriage”, “Why Blame Her?” and “Give Me a Chance”, in which Mama KaZili stands up to her husband's family. The following year, the editor published Singing Away the Hunger, the life story of a woman of Lesotho she had met at the university.
Who it is for
For hearing Basotho voices, rarely written down, tell in their own words of their condition as women.
Prizes and reception
Ann Morgan finds it gripping and memorable, despite the lack of polish of a few stories.
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