TO HELL AND BACK
Tunah Moalosi’s life of hell inspires hope
Tunah Thakayapeo–Moalosi, 40, of Tonota has been to hell and back but she is still standing tall and aiming for the stars. She has seen the worst in the last five to six years - from getting divorced, to her businesses collapsing and her properties being seized. She used to own a Mercedes E-class but not anymore, she had to downgrade and use public transport.
Her children had to move from Rainbow English Medium School to a government school and it hurt so much. It was as if the odds were against her and slowly she grew depressed. To this day, she still has no answers as to where it all went wrong. But being the strong woman she is, she chooses to move on and is now advising other women going through similar situations that laughter is the best medicine to survive the worst. “Nothing was going right in my life. I was even involved in a car accident three months ahead of the general elections in 2019. The accident left me bedridden and in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Bokamoso Hospital. “And at that time, I was contesting a council seat for Gaborone Central under the Alliance for Progressives (AP) ticket,” Moalosi told The Midweek Sun this week. She lost the elections and it did not help that her small businesses were not doing well, resulting in her closing shop altogether. Moalosi recalls that not many were willing to help her when life took a turn for the worst. She was broke and often went to bed on an empty stomach. Luckily she had her brothers by her side. “My mother and father died some time ago and I believe I was able to weather the storm because of my late mother - she exemplified the saying ‘what does not kill you only makes you stronger,’” Moalosi shared. She remembered how their family was harassed and her mother’s properties equally seized. They would wake up at night to angry voices of the no-nonsense men. A lot has happened right before her eyes and it moulded her into becoming the woman she is today. In all this, Moalosi realised that acceptance came in handy. She is not embarrassed to share her life experience since it has helped her survive. She is slowly picking up the pieces and wishes to use her experiences as a learning curve for other women. “They should not allow life challenges to break them. I am slowly recovering and no longer go to bed hungry. It is okay to cry but never give up. As for politics, I will be back again until I win. I will not be giving up, not anytime soon,” Moalosi said. And she is happy that after publicly speaking out about her ordeal, many people came out to relate their experiences. One feedback she received was from a distressed woman whose divorce was only finalised last month.
She is a mother of two and since her ex-husband left, everything has been going downhill for her. She had to pull the kids from a private school to a government school and because of the Covid-19 pandemic, she lost her job.
The lady is knee-deep in debts and all her business projects are not working out.
“This (sic) past two weeks have been so bad and I was even having suicidal thoughts. Seeing that you survived it all renewed my hopes,” said a message that the lady sent to Moalosi.