03 May 2018

After years of hard work, commitment and perseverance, the Bessie Head Literature Award Winner, Bontekanye Botumile has now realised her dream of penning a bestseller.

Her book, titled Tlou, The Elephant Story, which was published in 2006 carries a strong message about an ancient Botswana myth about the origins of the elephant, life with elephants, common traditional beliefs about the elephants and how people could share space with elephants.

The book carries simple illustrations which easily convey the message to the reader.

For the first edition, she printed more than 5 000 copies and they were sold out and now she has printed the second edition.

Gontekanye Botumile revealed in an interview that her book was doing exceptionally well in the market hence she managed to print the second edition.

Her book was sponsored by Ecoexist, a philanthropic organisation whose mission is to support the livelihoods of people that share space with elephants while considering the needs of elephants and their habitats in the Okavango Delta.

The Ecoexist is a collaborative effort of farmers, scientists, village leaders, policy makers and business people who are working together to find solutions to human wildlife conflict.

The author explained that her product was designed to explain the origins of the elephant according to the Wayei of the Northwest adding that the story was a way of explaining the anthropomorphic nature of elephant.

She said her book was sold in curio shops in lodges and safari camps in the Okavango Delta where most of the international tourists visit while some copies were sold in Chobe District and Gaborone respectively.

The book, she said was also sold in book shops in South Africa and Namibia.

Asked about what inspired her to write such a book, she narrated that she wanted to cater for children by writing stories using local content.

She said the book included facts and fun activities to educate young readers about elephants. 

In addition, she said her book safeguarded some of traditional beliefs that are rapidly dying out, especially in Ngamiland in print form.

“This book was based on the belief that a winnowing basket is not a toy to be played on, and so the taboo stages that if children stand on it, they could turn into an elephant as a way of stopping them from breaking it or making it dirty,” she added.

Looking at the current human wildlife conflict, Botumile revealed that the story stimulated various discussions depending on ones’ view point. While being a writer has advantages, it also has its own challenges.

Botumile believes that anything without challenges is boring because challenges mould and train people to think positively and strive for excellence.

Although, she said at times some challenges could drain the life out of people, it was wise to look for help from others when one experienced them.

She shared some of the challenges she faced as a self- publisher such as marketing and distribution.

She said as a writer, one had to work extra hard to ensure her product was well distributed and marketed in order to reap fruit.

Botumile also observed that being an author was not just about writing as she had to do the editing, proof reading, work with illustrator, design, source funds and at the same time doing the marketing and distribution. ENDS