Article June 10, 2002 Issue

Rabo meets Barney

Life lessons from an African boy and an American TV icon

By Kim Shippey Sentinel staff

He's small for his eight years. Medical opinion says he was undernourished in the township where he once lived and his life was on the line. His legs are thin. His ears stick out.

His Tsonga name is Karabo, which means "answer." When spoken slowly, it conjures up the echoing vastness of the South African veld where he was raised. Most of us just call him Rabo.

Three years ago, Rabo and his adoptive mother, Mary, were taken into the Johannesburg home of Michelle Scott and her two children, whom I visit once a year.

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