Word spread quite quickly. In no time at all, Baker and I started receiving visitors from the greater Pietersburg area, people who had heard about the two ex-Robben Islanders, under restriction in the area and currently at Pietersburg Hospital.

Just outside of Pietersburg, there was a university that had been started a few years earlier for Africans – The University of the North, also known as Turfloop. Many of the students who were cutting their teeth in politics came to visit us at the hospital, and we made some very interesting friendships. They were keen to hear how the hundreds of prisoners we had left behind were coping. There was a huge amount of curiosity about Robben Island and some of its famous inmates, people such as Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and other political leaders who were still languishing in prison.

That's about the time we met Moon Masemola. Bra Moon was a couple of years older than us and he was to become a major pillar of support to us in the period shortly after our release from the hospital. He and his family lived just outside New Look Township between the old location of Seshego and the city of Pietersburg. Mrs Masemola lived in the mission house of Khaiso College, a reputable academic institution for African boys. Moon, or Gulch as we called him, was a father, a socialite, and a respected leader in the area; always willing to walk the extra mile to assist others.

At the beginning of 1970, we were discharged from the care of Dr Makunyane. We had gained considerable weight – our tight clothes told the story.

After our release from hospital, Bra Moon generously invited Baker and I to live with him while we were finding our feet. Like many others, he had great sympathy for us and our circumstances. Gulch never came across as a man with strong political views, but he was a decent human being. We accepted his offer. Taking our meagre belongings with us, we left the hospital and went to stay with this family. Baker and I looked very different from the people who had entered the hospital a few months earlier.