Talking with your hands

Growing up in Ha-Rachabeli village, Molefi Tutubala, 31, had what he calls a very difficult upbringing. For a start, Tutubala’s own mother did not speak his language. That was a big problem given the centrality of a mother in language acquisition and socialisation. His mother, who is now late, would often speak to Tutubala in Sesotho, a language that was foreign to him. And when he “spoke” in his own sign language, his mother would not understand him either.