Grade 10, Barona Child Care Centre
My granny, Lettie Mthembu, was the second daughter of the Mthembu family. Lettie was a great granny who was ambitious. She would put a smile on my face. She was so loving and caring she would do anything to make us feel happy.
In early July she started to get sick and was admitted to Baragwanath Hospital because she was losing her breath. When she came back home, she was breathing, 24 hours a day, with a machine she received from the hospital. It was sad not sleeping … watching her moaning asking for water. I always wished I didn’t have to go to school so I could watch her.
My aunt didn’t care about her, my granny, and my heart was sore. She would cry and my tears would also flow like a river. Sometimes I would kneel down and pray to God to take her because she was suffering and her suffering was hurting me and my younger brother. Over weekends my friends would go and have fun but I couldn’t go with them because the only person I could think about was my granny. I stopped going out with friends just so I could look after my granny. At school, I could not concentrate because I was wondering if my aunt was giving her food or if she was taking care of her. Time went on and she recovered and stopped using the machine.
On the 24th November 2017, she was taken to hospital again and it was not so long before the hospital called and told us she had passed away. It was so sad but good at the same time because I knew she would be resting in peace. She wouldn’t be suffering on the machine anymore. She wouldn’t be moaning in the morning and asking me for water.
May her soul rest in peace. She will always be remembered especially by me and my younger brother. I won’t forget how she died.