Grade 6, Yeoville Community School
In the over-crowded streets of Yeoville, a place filled with black hearts, black minds and black people, lived a girl named Thando. She was very smart and clever but never understood life. She had gone through a lot for the past few years as she was once raped by a criminal and never got justice. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). It took her years and years to get over it as she thought people could see through her clothes. Since her family was poor, she did not go for therapy. She thought it was the end of her life. She even tried to commit suicide.
Anyway, she had a family of two to support her: a mother and father. She didn’t have siblings because her father was infertile so she was adopted. Her father was unemployed because he never went anywhere in life. He didn’t go to school.
Thando studied at Yeoville Community School and was in grade 6, her teacher was Mrs Langa. She talked badly about Thando to other people. She said they should not touch, play or even sit with her at school. Thando felt like she was not meant to live. Mrs Langa was the only person who emotionally abused Thando. Her life was a mess.
She would cry alone and ask herself, “Why? Why is my life a mess? I don’t have sisters or brothers in my life. God hates me and loves everybody else.”
Every day her emotions became worse. Thando also thought she was a virus since children at her school would say, “Virus on the loose.”
Every day she tried to be strong but nature wouldn’t let her. When she was at her wits’ end, she decided to run away. At home she took all her clothes and ate food. “I’m a disgrace to everyone, it’s better if I just go away,” said Thando. Then she looked at her family album and kissed
pictures of her parents.
After that, she set off on a miserable journey. She went to the market next to Shoprite to get shelter. The Amaphara gangsters did not allow her to sleep there. They wanted to sleep with her and called her Umuhle Ntombi yomuntu (beautiful girl). She knew that she couldn’t live in this kind of state and decided to go somewhere else but couldn’t.
Meanwhile her parents were looking for her. “What a nightmare,” said the detective from Yeoville Police Station. They didn’t have a clue where she was and thought she had committed suicide.
After a few weeks, Thando’s case was closed. Her parents were disappointed in her and could not accept that she had gone.
In that time, Thando was miserable. She had become a real gangster in the streets of Yeoville. She was smelly, dirty and she looked disgusting, just like a rotten potato. Thando thought of going home but she knew her parents would not be able to recognise her. She had broken every rule in the book.
God works in miracles and in Thando’s belief, he did. A woman with a very soft voice asked her, “Don’t you want to live in this place?” Then she said, “Come with me.
The woman provided her with sanitary towels since she could see that Thando was hiding her mess with an old jacket.
It was the first time ever since she left her home that Thando smiled. Her smile was so bright that whoever looked at her could see that inside was a beautiful young lady. The woman with the soft voice took her to her house. It was a mansion!
Thando was dressed in rags but when she changed her mclothes, she looked like Cinderella. The woman was an angel indeed to help Thando. Thando regretted that she had run away but thought that she would find her parents again one day.
Extraordinary luck came to her when she was reading a newspaper, she saw an advert, “Missing Thando Ngema”. The newspaper had news that she was lost. This happened because the police had changed their minds about her committing suicide.
A thought came to her, “But, how come?” she asked in a low voice. She didn’t hesitate. She dialled the number and heard her mother’s voice, “Mntwana wami” (my child). Thando was happy that she screamed Äahhh … mama!” on the phone. Suddenly, she thought about the woman and at the same time she had an idea. She would go to the woman and tell her she had found her mother and so she did.
Since the woman was kind, she understood Thando. When she was back home, she told her parents how the lady and the newspaper helped her. She even went to a youth club for girls called, ‘Dreams girls’ club’. That helped her understand how to live with her status. She even started with her treatment. This helped her develop self-confidence and pride in herself.