I am Goitsemang Elias Mabiletsa. Goitsemang is the name my parents gave me at birth; a Setswana question asking, “Who knows?”. Just like with the many cultures of the world, in Setswana, a child’s name is either a reflection of the circumstances of their birth, or an expression of their parents’ aspirations. In my case, the name has inspired a lifelong quest to understand who I am; where I am; the reason I am here; who brought me here, and how best to be here; essentially, the meaning of life.
Even though I did not set out to enquire of these existential questions from the onset, what life ultimately taught me became sufficient in answering its most important questions when I finally got to asking them of myself. For much of my childhood I was exposed to lack and the suffering it inflicted on my family and the community in which we lived. This urged me to seek to understand the nature of suffering, and why it is so much a part of our lives, not only for humans, but for all other known life forms. I found it vital to establish whether this suffering happens because it is necessary to life, or simply a miscreation that should be eradicated.