Reclaiming the Soil: A Black Girl’s Struggle to Find Her African Self

An extraordinary story of cultural confusion and the long way home to a black girl’s emotional
roots. David Robbins

The Rosie Motene story is about a young girl born to the Bafokeng nation during the apartheid era
in South Africa. At the time, Rosie’s mother worked for a white Jewish family in Johannesburg who
offered to raise the child as one of their own. This generous gesture by the family created many
opportunities for Rosie but also a trail of sacrifices for her parents. As she grew, Rosie struggled to
and her true identity. She had access to the best of everything but as a black girl she floundered
without her own culture or language. This book describes Rosie’s journey through her fog of
alienation to the belated dawning of her self-discovery as an African.