Closure

FOR two weeks she heard nothing from him, he did not come to varsity, lunches were lonely, he was not answering his phone and she was missing him.

On a cold Tuesday morning in July 2004 Charmaine Makhubela decided to check at his residence. While going up the stairs she saw a notice with a picture and bold typing: “Memorial Service for Christopher ‘Sontaga’ Gwale.”

The picture was small but that was Chris.

Charmaine and Chris met in first year studying law, and for three years they were inseparable, doing the same courses, changing faculties together, moving from Law to Humanities. They would joke around in the International Relations lecture, find the oddities about the lecturer.

Chris shared his life ambitions and his God and she appreciated his friendship. Having had no friends throughout her high school life, the idea of someone being interested in her was exciting.

They came from different backgrounds. Charmaine grew up in the City of Gold, in the vibrant township of Soweto; he was from the valley of Queen Modjaji, rural area in Limpopo. But they shared the idea of a better life, getting a foothold in the media.

Seeing his photo on the memorial notice, made Charmaine think about what they shared. She walked back to the bus stop in deep thought about the past years.“Why did I have to find out about it this way, was I not close to him for the last three years?”

The International Relations class that morning seemed so empty. The memorial service later in the week was not easier. She did not even know that Chris had a sister. She met the sister at the service.

Chris had no parents. He was raised by a priest in Limpopo; Charmaine did not know this about her friendFor three years Charmaine and Chris shared lunch and dreams but at the service she found that she might not have known much about him at all.Chris died of meningitis.

“He was never an introvert but I guess he was secretive,” she said.

Charmaine never attended his funeral in Limpopo, only three representatives from the varsity were sent and these were SRC members.

“I, his friend, never got closure,” she said.

2006