A Question of Power

Elizabeth lives in Motabeng, a village in Botswana (a country that borders South Africa). She recalls how she and two men, Sello and Dan, journeyed into their “inner hells.” She remembers Dan showing off his penis and Sello telling her that love isn’t predatory, but positive, for all parties involved. Dan pushed Sello aside and tortured her. He made several “prophecies”—she’d lose her legs or die by suicide. She almost died by suicide, but then her son asked her to buy him a football (a soccer ball). In Elizabeth’s mind, the “normal” and the “abnormal” mix, and she thinks it has to do with her mom. The story flashes back, and Elizabeth explains her life up to the present day.

Elizabeth was born to a white mother and Black father, which isn’t permissible in racist South Africa. Seemingly in response to this violation of apartheid, authorities claim Elizabeth’s mom is “insane,” and they admit her to a psychiatric hospital named the Red House due to its red roof. Elizabeth’s mom dies by suicide.

A Boer (descendants of the Dutch and French Protestant people who settled in South Africa during the 1600s) couple begins to take care of Elizabeth.