by Amy J. Moore, Producer

In 2009 while on a press junket in Dallas for HBO, I told a story about taking Anthony Minghella on his second trip into the Makadikadi Pans.  We were adapting “No. 1 Ladies” for the screen.  We sat on the dirt in a kraal with a traditional healer or sangoma.  I “rolled the bones” — small bones, rocks, and talismans used in divination.

I silently asked about my work in Africa, particularly “No. 1 Ladies” and asked if it would be successful.  I had been traveling to Africa for 35 years and had hitched hiked around Botswana 20 years previously.  I had run the first black empowerment production company in South Africa and I had produced “Drumstruck” in New York.  I had been working to develop “No. 1 Ladies” for over six years.

The !Kung response was, “You will successfully capture the elephant but it will be a very long hunt,” and was translated to, “You will have a very successful journey but it will be a very long journey.”

I had been relentless and focused on the ground for six years already.  I had fought with determination.   I had carried others with me, instilling hope.  I had been correctly coined “an occasional New Yorker” by the New York Times for I had lived mostly in Africa as well as identified by the Times as “the catalyst for No. 1 Ladies.”

“What?” I protested.  “How much longer?  It’s been six years!”  I wanted to leap across the dirt and shake the bones again (if not shake the sangoma too!)

The sangoma just smiled.  He understood my words without translation.

I still haven’t learned to be very patient, but we do thank our fans for being patient in waiting for the second season.