Kathleen Arrowsmith was a widow whose children died due to various causes and was left with only one. She also had some grandchildren, who were belonging to her late daughter, Leni Casey Winthrop. Due to the need to save her son, Kathleen was advised by some friends to relocate to another place. It was there that this small family struggled with the new ways of life, however they stayed. Alexander Hayward was murdered by the security agents and Kathleen was left with no a child of her own.

The only girl in Kathleen’s life fell pregnant while she was a student and this was punishable. She was whipped and later denied the chance to continue with school; this being the punishment given to every girl in that district. James was bullied to death and this left Kathleen and Erin devastated. Erin later enrolled for an evening school to better her blurred future and it was in one of the classes in this school that she was encouraged to tell her story of how she fell pregnant, and people became interested in her story as she also ended up losing the right to education.

The future of gymslip mothers changed when all of a sudden, the law was changed and girl children who had babies while were still students were taken back to school.

Meet the Author

Galaletsang Namoshe is a young Motswana woman, born to a Zambian single mother who became a Motswana by citizenship. She has both Zimbabwean and Zambian roots from her maternal grandparents.

Galaletsang comes from a family of seven, including four brothers and two sisters. Born on April 3, 1986, at Jubilee Hospital in Francistown, she attended Serule Primary School, Bonwatbu Community Junior Secondary School, and Shoshong Senior Secondary School. She holds a degree in Business Administration, majoring in Human Resources Management, from the University of Botswana. Although she was born underweight, Galaletsang defied the odds, grew up healthy, and excelled academically.

Today, she is a dedicated writer working on several manuscripts awaiting publication.