My friend Sonneys died of AIDS three years ago today. When my other neighbors in the rural Northwest Province were shy about talking to a crazy white man like me, she and her sister Sadi came right over to my place with a million stories, questions, and jokes. Sonneys was one of those people that turns a normal day into a dance party. She had rich smoky laugh and was an extravagant flirt. I sketched this portrait in July of 2003 with an eye towards having her sit for a more finished painting, but she never got the chance. Shortly thereafter, Sonneys announced that she was pregnant by her boyfriend, and went to stay with her sister in the nearby village of Ganyesa. When she gave birth to her daughter Lebogang, in late November, she had already lost a great deal of weight and had started to show signs of AIDS-related dementia. She returned to the Kohrae family compound (where I was staying.) In the end, Sonneys was like an infant herself-a heartbreaking shadow of the vibrant young woman I had come to know. She died in January and little Lebogang followed six weeks later. Even after all this time, thinking about Sonneys and Lebogang burns like a hot stone. No more today.
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