> D e n y z ( L ) J a P a N ;

They lived in the same village, went to the same school and had the same dreams: they both wanted to go to the city where they were quite sure that they could learn to be models and make a lot of money. So they plotted and planned every day as to how they could get there.
The village where they lived was near a wide river that formed the boundary of the country and Busi often spent her Saturday afternoons helping her mother wash the family's clothes in the water. The river only ran strongly when there had been good rains up country but for several years there not been any significant rainy seasons. The big pools were all that were left, but the rainy season was due and good downpours were predicted.

One Saturday while helping her mother with the wash, Busi had noticed a dog belonging to the chief of her village run across the wide riverbed from rock to rock and then return. She thought about this and lost no time in finding Simelo to tell her of her ideas. Returning to the village with the clothes that had dried in the sun, Busi outlined her plan. They could get up very early on the pretence of going to school and then, out of sight of anyone who might be watching, could step across the rocks and so cross over the border, just as the dog had done.They met several times and worked on their plan, deciding exactly where they would be hidden from view, and where they could cross. The girls would have to walk a fair distance from their village but in so doing, they could see whether anyone was following them before making the crossing. The girls were young and their heads were full of thoughts of the glamour they had heard about. If young girls in America could make such great names for themselves, they argued, there was no reason why they could not do likewise, given the opportunity that, they were convinced awaited them in the big cities. They set the date for the last day of the school term, when it was unlikely they would be missed by their schoolmates, who would insist on accompanying them if they heard about the plan. They decided to tell their respective families that they would be staying with one another, after school had closed and so should be able to get quite a good distance away before being missed and an alarm set up. They planned to write home once they had settled.