Design that Matters Field Journal

Collector of Treasures

Bessie Head's A Collector of Treasures is a rare and wonderful book, a masterpiece of humanism. Although this collection of short stories is set in rural Botswana, the author paints a picture that rings equally true for life in West Africa.

And so the woman Dikeledi began phase three of a life that had always been ashen in its loneliness and unhappiness. And yet she had always found gold amidst the ash, deep loves that had joined her heart to the hearts of others. She smiled tenderly at Kebonye because she knew already that she had found another such love. She was the collector of such treasures. [Bessie Head, A Collector of Treasures]