Welcome to Our Hillbrow: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

Refilwe did not know anything about Piet, Liz, and Lerato’s story. All Refilwe knew was that Lerato lived in Hillbrow, which made her a Johannesburger, which meant that she may be (at least partly) a Lekwerekwere. Although Refilwe didn’t tell her story using “vulgar words,” the people of Tiragalong gossiped that Lerato’s mother was “one of those women who could not say no to any drop of semen found flowing aimlessly through the streets.”

Refilwe loved Refentše, and she is devastated by his suicide. She always imagined—or hoped—that he would give up his foolish “adventurousness” and come back to her, a good woman from Tiragalong. Refilwe, unlike Lerato, could grieve without guilt when Refentše died. She thinks often about what she sees as Refentše’s “foolishness” (for not choosing her), which he exemplified the day that he came over to her apartment for dinner.

That night, Refentše arrived at Refilwe’s right on schedule. Refilwe was an excellent host, and she started off the night by letting Refentše choose the music—he picked Stimela. Refentše liked Stimela’s song “See the World through the Eyes of a Child” in particular because it was a song about both suffering and love. Refilwe was trying to make Refentše happy by letting him choose the music (and by cooking for him), but she had no way of knowing that this song just reminded him of Lerato.

As Refilwe let her food simmer, hoping to remind Refentše about how nice it was when they were together, she took out old photographs. Refentše and Refilwe were in many of the pictures, embracing each other as lovers. In one of the pictures is a boy Refilwe went out with while she was seeing Refentše. This makes Refilwe think about how disappointing it was that Refentše hadn’t understood her back then and how he’d just left her. If he’d asked, he would have found out that none of those boys meant anything to her—at least not in the way Refentše had. But she also told the story about how she broke up with one of her lovers because she found him kissing someone else.

Refentše and Refilwe talked about many different things that night. She mentioned that she was thinking of pursuing another degree at university, and Refentše responded with enthusiasm. Refentše said he was sure she’d do well wherever she ended up—whether it was Wits or somewhere else, like Oxford Brookes. This is where the first “seeds” were “planted” for Refilwe about attending school abroad. Refentše told her to dream and to think big.

After dinner, Refilwe commented on how beautiful the music was. Then, she started to lightly cry, and Refentše embraced her. She told him that she loved him, saying she wished she could go back to the time when they were together, when they were “still children trying to find their way through the valleys and hills of life”—that is, when they were less cynical. She choked up, but Refentše knew exactly what she was talking about. He remembered both the “beauty” and the “bitterness” of their young love together.

The conversation with Refilwe reminded Refentše of the very first time he fell in love. The woman he fell for was honest with Refentše, telling him that, although she might love him, she couldn’t be with him because he didn’t have a car. Refentše was devastated because the shock of his poverty hit him for the first time. Back then, it was Sammy who had comforted Refentše, encouraging Refentše to find enjoyment in other outlets, like school. It was also Sammy who talked Refentše out of his first depressive suicidal thoughts.

The more Refentše thought about his past while having dinner Refilwe’s, the more he thought about Lerato. He realized that he could not betray her. As much as he loved Refilwe—and he did—it was Lerato who was always the “Bone of his Heart.” He told Refilwe this. He hoped that they could still be friends, since love doesn’t always have to mean a “love relationship.” He would be there for her, but not as a lover.

Refilwe argued that Refentše just admitted to loving her, and it would make more sense for him to be with someone from his home village. But as she started to say cruel things about the women from Johannesburg, Refentše reminded her that there are untrustworthy people all over—in Tiragalong, too. When he left Refilwe’s, he knew that she was unhappy, but he believed in that moment that one day she would find her own love, at which point they could and talk about their partners.