Gertrude lives in Claremont, a very poor area. Walking around there, Kumalo is disturbed by its filthiness, and the number of children wandering the streets. Kumalo goes to visit her, and she is shocked and afraid. At first, she will not let him in-she seems to be hiding things in her house. Kumalo questions her harshly: why didn't she write? Has she really been in prison? Where is her son? When it is clear she is not sure, he explodes at her. He does not want the neighborhood to hear, but he wants her to know she has shamed her family. She begins to cry loudly, saying she wants to leave, and Johannesburg is a bad place.
She says she wants to go back to Ndotsheni, but that she is too wicked to be there. He pities her, and they pray earnestly together. He then asks her about Absalom. She tells him that she doesn't know much, but she knows that he was friendly with their brother John's son, so John might know where he is. He brings Gertrude to stay with him at Mrs. Lithebe's house, happy that his family seems to be reuniting. He thinks, "One day in Johannesburg, and already the tribe was being rebuilt, the house and soul being restored." Chapter 6, pg. 32
