Paused.

By Neelo Lentebanye

I stayed up late,
chasing whispers across blank pages
while my soul begged for sleep.
The journal stared back–
its silence louder than my thoughts.
I surrendered to the dark.
Morning arrived with leheelo,
the broom sweeping rhythm into the yard.
The air carried the scent of wet soil
from my mother’s blooming plants.
She left for the fields with her friend,
their laughter trailing behind like soft rain.
I returned to my corner,
a wooden table beside the window
where countless writings once bloomed.
But today, the words hid from me.
Social media swallowed my hours,
feeding me dreams and dread–
a child’s ribs sharp as knives,
a lake sparkling like scattered stars,
Botswana’s beauty calling me home.
Tsodilo Hills rose in memory,
rock art breathing through stone,
ancient hands pressing silence
into stories I ache to tell.
Yet doubt sat beside me,
a shadow in the sunset.
Orange split into pink,
then red,
then nothing.
I cried into the dark,
closed the journal,
shut the laptop,
let the music die.
Then–
the door creaked open.
Mother returned,
her skin kissed by dust and sun,
her arms heavy with harvest.
In the kitchen,
maize and groundnuts boiled,
their aroma pulling me back
to fields where I once ran barefoot,
carefree, chasing wind and light.
I stood still –
no longer a writer drowning in silence,
but a girl remembering.
I am not lost.
I am simply paused.
The writer will write again.

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Neelo Lentebanye is a multidisciplinary creative professional working at the intersection of theatre, cultural development, and visual arts. With a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts -Theatre, and further training in film and television, she has written, directed, and produced socially engaged plays and films that address themes such as gender-based violence, human trafficking, identity, and cultural preservation. In 2018, she founded Neelo Management & Consultancy, a creative firm offering arts consultancy and cultural project management services. Through this NMC, she has worked with key organisations including UNICEF Botswana, BITC, FNB Botswana, Native Impressions, and the Ministry of Sports and Arts (then MYSC).

Neelo has curated and managed several high-impact programmes and campaigns such as the Eseng Mo Ngwaneng national awareness campaign, the Global Expo Botswana 2018 Guerrilla Marketing Campaign, The Bots50: A Road to Self Rule theatre production (Co-Writer), and served as the Lead Coordinator for the Botswana Youth Awards from 2018 to 2020 under Remmogo Foundation. She previously worked at the University of Botswana under the Arts & Culture unit, where she led the development of vibrant arts initiatives for the student creative community.  

Neelo is passionate about storytelling, and in every project – whether writing, directing, or curating events – she draws inspiration from lived experiences. Her goal is always to craft immersive narratives that invite audiences to fully lose themselves in the story.