The Village Saint

Story review
By:Zach
Bessie Amelia Emery Head was born on the 6 th of July, 1947, in
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, to a biracial family, her mother was
“white” and her father was “non white”. Her mother, Bessie Amelia
Emery, had been hospitalized for several years at a mental hospital
following the death of her first child, a boy. She was in a huge
mental hospital when she gave birth to Bessie. Although she was not
able to keep the child, she did give her daughter her own name. She
was placed in a white family until it was found out she wasn’t white,
then she was given to a “coloured” family who took good care of
her. She attended her local catholic Church and primary school then
went on to St. Monica’s home for coloured girls, a boarding school
in Durban. Two years later, when she passed her junior Certificate
exam, she went on to do a two-year teacher training certificate at a
nearby college. After she graduated, she became a teacher in a
coloured primary school. She later resigned and went to cape town
to become a journalist. She joined an activist movement for for black
people and got arrested, when she was eventually let out she was in
depression and tried to commit suicide, but survived and was
hospitalized. Later she met a man named Harold Head and married
him, having a son named Howard Rex. She later moved to
Botswana with her son and wrote most of her famous works and
won the Order of Ikhamanga award.

The story, The Village Saint is about Mma-Mompati and Rra-

Mompati, they are married and and have a son named mompati.
Mma-Mompati would pray for the sick in the village and if someone
passed away she would organize their funeral, and the villagers liked
her. One day, Rra-Mompati decides to leave Mma-Mompati for
another woman, so she takes him to court for a divorce settlement
and takes a large sum of his money and mompati stays with his
mother while Rra-Mompati moves out of the village with his new
partner. Later, mompati marries Mary Pule but Mma-Mompati does
not like her because she is jealous that Mary is ;taking her son away,
so Mma-Mompati takes mompati’s money and forces them to get
water form the village tap although their house already has one, and
for this reason they move into the village instead of living with
Mma-Mompati. They tell the villagers about what happened which
destroys her reputation and makes them rethink about who Mma-
Mompati really is, as they previously considered her as the Village
Saint.
This story takes place in a village in South Africa, where Mma-
Mompati and Rra-Mompati live in a large, white washed, colonial-
style house with many large rooms and a wide porch surrounds the
whole house. Here the village elders would discuss top secret affairs
about the village. One day, Rra-Mompati leaves his wife for another
woman and moves to a cattle post away from the village because the
villagers hated him, but their son mompati stayed with his mother in
their house until he gets married and Mma-Mompati makes them get
water from the village tap because she does not like Mompati’s new
wife, so because of that, Mompati and his wife move into a separate
house in the village.

The characters in this story are Mma-Mompati, Rra-Mompati,

Mompati, and Mary Pule. Mma-Mompati is regarded as the Village
Saint, as she goes around the village playing for the sick and
arranging funerals, Mma-Mompati is liked by the villagers for this.
Rra-Mompati is Mma-Mompati’s husband, he was involved in a
cheating scandal as he left Mma-Mompati and his prestigious job as
a village chief for another woman. Mompati is the son of Mma-
Mompati and Rra-Mompati, when his parents divorced, he stayed
with his mother and his father left the village. When mompati grows
up he marries Mary Pule, although she is a good wife, Mma-
Mompati forces them out of her house because she is jealous.

I personally really enjoyed reading this story as the plot intrigues

me, it tells a story about a prestigious family in a village, and how
their reputations can be destroyed because of selfishness and
jealousy.

I would rate this story a 4 out of 5 because I liked the plot and how it
can stir your emotions.