I watched the faces of the others. Although it was dark, I could see that they all looked hopeless. The crossing had been a nightmare.
“Now you’re on your own, I am going back with my men,” Kupera said. There was no emotion in his voice. He had completed another transaction. He would be counting his profit.
No one spoke. We counted ourselves in the darkness, thirty had entered the water, but only twenty seven stood among the reeds. The young woman stared back at the black current, her arms empty.
Behind us, the river flowed on, closing over everything, as if nothing had ever happened.
I felt lonely and cold. Where was Fatso? The young woman was still sobbing on the ground.
“My baby, can someone help me to find my baby?” The woman sobbed.
The others started to move from the bank of the river. It was risky. The Border Management Agency knew all the illegal crossing points. They could pounce on us at any time.
“I am going, don’t follow me.” It was one of the men we had made the crossing of the Limpopo River with. He was behind me during the crossing. He soon disappeared in the bush. One by one, the others followed.
- The Limpopo crossing: Where hope meets darkness
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The young woman who had lost the baby started moaning. Her name was Sekai.
“Stop crying. You’ll get us all in trouble,” I said.
“I want my baby. What will I tell my husband?” She suddenly stood up. The others had all disappeared in the woods. There were only five others remaining. There was a woman and four other men who all seemed to be in their early twenties to late twenties. After the crossing, I had not seen the old sickly man. He could have been one of the others swept away by the river.
Sekai made a sprint for the bank of the river. I was alarmed. The other five border jumpers watched helplessly. They were undecided. I could see that it was their first time in South Africa. I did not want to travel with these people. Moving with them could attract unnecessary attention.
Someone had told me before this journey that if you’re a border jumper, there are twenty five things that you must avoid. And he called it the twenty-five point rules kit every border jumper must abide by. And one of the things was moving in a group.
Sekai started walking precariously on the river bank. “My child, where are you? Your mother is here,” she whispered. She carried a small stick and beat the sides of the river bank.
She could easily drown herself. Her sorrowful figure unnerved me. I did not want to involve myself. And I could not leave her alone on the river bank.
I walked cautiously towards her.
Likely at that point, the body of her child had been washed away downstream. I could not say that to her face. Not yet.
“Come back here. It’s dangerous where you’re standing. We’ll look for your child when it is safe to do so,” I lied. I had to say something. When I looked behind me, the other five border jumpers had vanished, leaving me alone with Sekai whom I barely knew..
“Go away, this is trouble.” The voice in my head was getting louder. The voice was right. Meddling in the affairs of strangers was one of the twenty five things a border jumper must avoid .
And then I heard a few voices coming from the bushes near where I had last seen the other five border jumpers.
I quickly rushed to Sekai. She was startled.
“Keep quiet!" I cupped my hands over her mouth. She tried to struggle, but I held her firmly. I could feel her body trembling against mine. Only a big granite rock hid us. It was a huge boulder but if someone moved closer, our cover could be blown away. The voices were now about five metres away from us.
“I heard someone crying near here,” someone said. I was sure these were not border patrol officers. We had been warned about marauding gangs who preyed on border jumpers. Kupera had even warned us. These robbers were more dangerous. Almost daily, corpses of border jumpers were discovered in the woods. My heart almost stopped beating. If they moved a few more steps towards us, one of my arteries could easily burst. Behind us, the water was dark and still. We were trapped. Sekai was breathing right in my face. Her hot breath almost suffocated me.
“A large group of border jumpers crossed over here just an hour ago. We must find them. Let’s move further up.” The voice was menacing enough. In my mind, I could see a vicious face that left no room for mercy. I heard their footsteps fade away.
I slowly took my hands away from her mouth. Sekai gasped, pulling in air, her body trembling. For a moment, I thought she would scream again.
But she didn’t.
She just looked at me.
“My baby…” she whispered.
Her voice was no longer loud. It was empty.
I glanced toward the bushes where the voices had disappeared. Then back at her. Staying here meant danger.
“Come,” I said quietly. “We have to move.”
She shook her head.
“I’m not leaving my child.”
“Your child is gone,” I said, more harshly than I intended. “If you stay, you’ll die too.”
The words hung between us.
She stared at me, as if trying to understand what kind of person I was.
I did not wait for her answer.
I turned and walked away.
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