Cynthia Thanda

When given a blank page, the Pan Afrikanist family believes in making it colorful with art, and this time it painted its canvas with the beautiful Thea Khama whose art is in the form of writing books.

Thea Khama was born in California, USA, an American citizen by birth, but based permanently in Botswana. When people describe her personality, they say she is approachable, loving, a perfectionist, outspoken and courageous. However, she thinks this is a reflection on many factors in terms of her upbringing which was certainly an unconventional one.

She was adopted cross-culturally at two (2) months; her adoptive parents were liberal and left-wing in their political ideology and brought her up to care first about others and then about herself; She travelled a lot around the continent (Africa) in her formative years as well as visited countries across Europe, Great Britain, Hawaii, and Mexico.

And in her late teens, she met her husband, Tshekedi Khama who is the former Minister of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation, and Tourism and they later entered a significant cross-cultural marriage. She is a mother to two young adults, a son Kaedi Sekgoma Khama and a daughter Tahlia Naledi Khama.

Mrs. Khama came to Botswana as a high school graduate from Berkeley, California, USA, and stands now as one of the leading luminaries of the nation: married in the royal tradition of the Bangwato, a politician’s wife, mother, and pioneer in the field of transformation in Botswana: mind, body, and soul.

Thea is a Professional Consciousness Coach and Massage Therapist by trade and is the Managing Director of InnerCore Energetics Corporation Pty, Ltd that provides awareness training and coaching for personal, professional, or conscious teams development.

 Eager to make a difference in a myriad of ways, she began her charitable work with The Women’s Shelter Project and is The Founder and Chair of Tsela Riders- Road                  Cycling Network in Gaborone developing young cycling talent. Thea held the title of fastest female road cyclist in Botswana for three years in her 30’s.

She co-owned and managed Body-n Soul Pty ltd trading as Energym Health Studio (1998-2016) where she devoted her energy for the good part of two decades training athletes and the general public. Through her studio, she equipped many Batswana with qualifications and skills in the field of health and wellness.

Energym was the first health centre in Botswana to introduce the world-famous Body-for-Lifebody transformation system, SPINNING, Pump, Tae Kwon Do, Kata Box, kid’s gym equipment, crèche, and a fully equipped day spa.

In terms of writing, Mrs. Khama has proven that she is the queen of her own ink and paper: she has always loved to write. She started journaling at the age of seven. In her teens, she enjoyed poetry, prose, and songwriting. Later, she wrote a slew of health-related articles for their newsletter and other local publications when she owned a fitness centre

She has also written material and a 100-page workbook when she founded Teen Spirit- Uncover the Genius Within which is her psychosocial mentorship program in 2010. After this, she decided she wanted to find a way to become a published author. She has always wished to write down the story of her formative years, but she also began typing out ideas for stories in the fantasy genre. She was fascinated by history and fantasy and how writers tend to overlap ideas in this arena.

Reflecting back on her struggles, Thea mentioned that most of the stories in her breakthrough memoir that came out in November 2020 are stories of challenge. Being an adoptee is a challenge in and of itself, but on top of that, she contended with the dissolution of her adoptive parents’ marriage and being sexually abused at a young age.

She has experienced slights of discrimination as a woman and as a white person in an African context. One of the things she has learned is not to make any of her challenges who she is. Rather, she sees them as learning curves in the life she has built for herself.

When asked about her achievements, Thea gushed with a smile and said, “Oh, my goodness, well what kind of achievements are you speaking of? It all depends on what you call achievements. I mean I feel like skydiving over the Makgadikgadi Pans was significant, surviving approaches by elephants, living after encounters with a lion on horseback or Covid (the new Delta variant) in my body, only perhaps you are interested more in goal-related pursuits?

“One of my more recent achievements was as Patron for a group of 50+ African performers to New York and performing our unique off-Broadway show Pula! to consecutive standing ovations and great press. I didn’t make any money from this, but was fortunate to collaborate on the script and have the experience of a lifetime”.

For Mrs. Khama writing is about expression. Writing is a creative art form in and of itself. When she writes, it is a highly spiritual sensation for her.  It takes her out of the body and into the other-worldly dimensions of her imagination. She doesn’t write just to write but to entertain, portray a message, or tell a story in a particular way.

She loves going back and re-reading and editing her work because she is truly interested in the feelings evoked by words and she wants to make sure the reader gets that experience as well.

The ego, when telling one’s own story can get in the way, and in writing her memoir Rough Diamond, she enjoyed eliminating this as much as she could and allowing the reader to have his/her own experience with her. She wrote 14 drafts before she finally published.

Internationally, her book can be read digitally via Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, Amazon, Nook, and Kobo Books online for paperback.

In Botswana, it is available at Exclusive Books Airport Junction, Excel Stationers & Bookshop, Jazella’s in Maun, and www.ymonline.co.bw or anyone may request a signed copy directly from her at:  thea@theakhama.com

In RSA, it is available at the following Exclusive Books locations in Gauteng and to order: Mall of Africa, Rosebank, Hyde Park Corner and Bedfordview shopping malls.

Soon she will be promoting it further afield. Besides writing Thea can be seen mentoring the youth, going to the gym, road cycling, playing little folk tunes on the guitar, singing, and drawing. She mostly adores spending time with her family and pets and watching Netflix in her downtime. 

She also loves to travel, hiking and being in nature and she is very involved in charitable work with The Pelotshweu Trust. (www.pelotshweu.com)

“Currently I am focused on building my coaching business. However, I would certainly like to find more time to write and to set up support group networks for people in emotional crisis and recovering from Covid-19.

“More and more we are experiencing breakdowns internally and externally yet, without compassionate and accountable support systems we don’t get to always have breakthroughs as completely or as quickly as we might. Developing a healing centre and maybe even a private school in the village my husband comes from are some possibilities much further in the future”, said Thea.

Her book “Rough Diamond” sheds light on the darkness of youth and young womanhood seen through the lens of soul songs, always with enough love to keep her moving. As Thea finds spirituality and her life transforms into something magical, the diamond emerges out of the rough.

The book is a poignant story of one woman’s discovery of self, and the spiritual world. The book covers Thea’s life from birth through adolescence to her early twenties and is told through soul songs.

Thea shares the light and darkness of her journey in discovering her place in the unknown mysteries of the world. With an emphasis on love’s universal language of healing Thea tells her story of endurance and pain, but also of the unspoken connections that link all people together; for every aching memory, there is another of hope and kindness.

In Thea Khama’s own words, “My story tells how I experienced adoption, displacement, and being an only child of a broken family. My story is about all the turmoil that made me who I am today. This narrative is meant to bring you closer to your heart, to open up your point of view, and to radiate compassion for the inner child and adolescent that rages, slumbers, plays, and dreams in every one of us”.

Rough Diamond inevitably relates how young Thea met her future husband, Tshekedi, her introduction to the Khama family, and how she found her own path in Botswana, a country she has called home ever since.

Below is one review of her book;

“The author dangles a bit about her life in the royal family, frustrating the reader with her decision to tell that story another day, yet placating her readers with a promise that the story about the Khamas is coming. That is what authors do oftentimes-tantalize readers and all for a good cause!

Readers with an avid interest in human interest stories will find this book quite captivating and interesting to read. Those with an interest in human rights will find that this is a must-have book on their bookshelves. Nature lovers and conservationists at heart will love the manner in which Thea Khama narrates her own love for nature.

This is definitely a must-read book for mothers and young women who will glean copious ideas on how to improve themselves.

That this is Thea Khama’s first book is unbelievable. She moves her pen with such Shakespearean mastery that she has made herself a victim of her own success! She has put herself in a situation in which she has to write a sequel to this beautiful piece of work, one that has to outshine this current narrative!” (anonymous)

More reviews can be found on Amazon.

On the flipside, Thea is a conservationist and believer in youth and she sat for five (5) years on the Board of Children in the Wilderness, acted as Patron of Gaborone Senior Secondary School, Men and Boys for Gender Equality, Elephant Ignite-Women for Wildlife, and championed the causes of  The Global March for Elephant, Rhino and Lion as its Ambassador in Gaborone, Botswana for over five years.

She channels her love of the indomitable quality of the human spirit into Teen Spirit – Uncover the Genius Within, which she established in 2010 to empower and transform lives from the inside out. Teen Spirit is primarily a youth mentorship program using self-discovery and peer mentorship models she created to train young people and their mentors in self-development facilitation, implementation, and transformation.

Thea Khama is driven by an inner-calling to nurture, and consistently uses her artistic awareness, writing skills, personal and interpersonal experiences, networks, and professional qualifications to empower.

Here are words of encouragement from Thea;

“Keep dreaming and engaging your imagination. I have done so multiple times in my life and have been able to achieve almost everything I set my heart to. I assisted my hopes and dreams to bud and then blossom as I stepped further out of my comfort zone and grasped at opportunities and experiences that seemed somewhat far-fetched at the time, that have now come to pass.

“I have seen my clients do the same time and again, but the key is in connecting deeply to your inner core and heart’s desire and being unattached to the time, way, and place of it. Leave that to Your Creator and The Universe”.