Lerato Mogoatlhe's memoir, Vagabond - Wandering Through Africa on Faith, on her African travels is really a story of faith, courage and acting on your dreams - regardless of how wild they are. Mogoatlhe goes against everything what we have been socialised to believe about travel, especially as women and even more of our own continent - Africa.
Vagabond is not written to glamourise her African experience - instead, as a reader - you are given first row experience of her personal discovery of the rarely spoken about side of our continent and her own personal learning and unlearning of the self. You go through all the emotions and lessons. You learn that although she claims to not like cleaning - she takes comfort in taking care of the spaces she is given to call home on her different stops. You learn that although her travels might put her in the mercy of others in terms of accommodation - when she gets a chance to stay on her own - she grabs it with both hands. You learn that being a freelance journalist is freedom - but waiting for money is a real challenge - and in her case -a big challenge.
Lerato takes us through her challenges with how she, as a journalist, writes about her continent (initially based on how she was socialised) and we grow with her as she makes a vow to do better as an African, a writer and a lover of this complex continent we call home.
We get a glimpse of when this seed of travel was planted (and no - it was much earlier than when she became a journalist). We see her through her fight for LGBTQ+ rights in regions where she could have been arrested and disappeared into a system of hate and prejudice. She lets us into her sexapades, being conned and complete heartbreak when she sees the results of bloodshed caused by wars. She lets us in on her battles with depression.
This is indeed a love letter to Africa. One that leaves you wanting more. A movie, a series, another book. When this review was initially written - Mogoatlhe was visiting Egypt (in typical Mogoatlhe style as soon as some travel was permitted - she grabbed her passport, mask, sanitiser and would not let a pandemic confine to her house further). It would be great to compare how she is travelling differently now - with the rise of social platforms like Instagram - which allow for visual documentation in real time.
Does the her story inspire me to travel want to travel our continent? YES. Would I do it the same way, NO! Either than fear, I like comfort a bit too much. You do not travel like Mogoatlhe has if you have comfort snobbery. At some point Mogoatlhe got to a point where she would decided where she stayed based on the toilet situation. I cringed at some of the descriptions she took us through. Deciding what to eat only if the toilet was clean was a real struggle. In her social media posts - she shares the price of comfort travel in our continent - and truth be told - I would need to rob a bank. But there are great middle ground places.
My highlight of her story was the way music played a major role in every bit of her story. Whether it was in nigh clubs, drumming to lose weight, meeting her musical icons, getting lost in songs that reminded her of home or being asked about musicians from back home. The late Brenda Fassie, Bob Marley and Lucky Dube featured a lot in many places she ended up in.
A sad insight was her having to deal with questions about South Africa's xenophobia and our national soccer team losing its glory. I was embarrassed that this is our country's narrative. And honestly, the questions about xenophobia scared me as I wondered for her safety.
Overall - this is an amazing book (and yes, I say this as a book lover, her friend and someone who spoke to her before she embarked one of her one way trips out of South Africa - read about it here: In Conversation With Lerato Mogoathle).
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