Grade 10, Rena Le Lona Creative Centre
It was one of the boring summer days at school. I’m usually happy and bubbly, but today I feel like I’ve lost a part of me. Anyway, my name is Nobuntu and I have a twin sister called Buntu. I am a first-year student at Melville High. My sister Buntu has changed a lot since we started this school together. I feel like Buntu died a long time ago due to her popular but unfriendly friends. I don’t know how my life turned upside down, but I thought I should share the story with you.
Me and my sister are room-mates at Melville High. We were lucky to get scholarship, although we are surrounded by rich and well-known kids and sometimes we feel like outsiders. Some learners have a way of making us feel loved and welcomed. Buntu joined the popular squad that bullied other kids and made them feel less and outsiders. Buntu asked me to join them, but I refused because of the reputation they hold and how they use it to hurt other kids. I found other good friends that made me feel like one of them.
School was going pretty well, although it felt like Buntu was now changing into a monster. We grew so far apart and I felt like my other half was slowly engaging in bad things as their squad name was Bad Girls. One morning I woke up early and went to the chemistry class about twenty minutes before the bell rang. I walked in to see Mr James behind his desk, muttering softly, “Pee…rr…ffee..ct.” I ignored him and went straight to my seat. After a while I heard a female voice coming from under his desk, and I quickly stormed out of the class, realising the situation. I spotted my friends and went to them. I found them gossiping and I also said what I had ran from in the classroom. We talked and laughed until the bell rang.
After a few weeks, I saw that my twin sister was going through some sort of hard time and needed space, so I didn’t bother her. I minded my own business, but a few days later Buntu asked me for a favour. I was stunned but I first wanted details about the favour. She asked me to come with her and I did. We found Liv and Rikki, her friends, in the girls’ bathroom. Liv was sweet this time. They explained the plan and told me that I should pretend to be Buntu for one day. I told them I needed time to process this and they gave me some time. I thought about it and I gave them a reply saying, “I will do it for the sake of you, Buntu.” We had to switch our identities, and I would become Buntu for one day. I was very uncomfortable at school because I was not my true self, but the day went very quickly, and no one was suspicious, so no one knew about what we did.
School went quite well until I found Buntu crying in the bathroom alone. I hugged her tightly and comforted her without asking her what was going going on. When we went to the dining room, she told me everything that had been happening in her life. She even told me about Mr James who offered to sleep with her in exchange for good marks, and I saw that she needed me more than ever right now. I went to her bedroom and shared the bed with her for the night because she was going through a hard time.
A week passed with no news about Mr. James leaving the school, so we decided to take this matter into our own hands. We gathered evidence about him and went to the principal to report this matter. It turned out the principal knew about this and kept quiet about it to protect the school reputation. We then decided to involve the police because this matter had gone too far. The school played their part very well and there was a meeting for everyone, even the teachers, held in the hall.
The police were standing in front and I was standing on the other side. The police addressed the agenda of the meeting and this gave me a chance to evaluate more about what had been going on. I was always shy and scared, but standing there, all eyes on me, I stood bold and fierce, showing no sign of weakness, and I explained the things that had been happening right under our noses. After I’d done explaining, I heard sound of chairs dragging. Everyone stood up and came to me in front and stood with me. The parents showed support, and understood why their children were distant lately; they also understood the sorrow and pain they went through. They not only supported me, but they stood firm as defensive parents and students. I was so happy that we stood up together and used our voices to fight this nonsensical thing that could ruin one’s future and life. The parents and other school teachers came to a decision that the principal and Mr James should leave the school premises with immediate effect because of this unlawful act, and then they were sent to gather all their belonging and leave.
We watched them packing their things in boxes until they left school. After the meeting, we discussed opening a student-led campaign called ‘Let’s Talk, where we would host sessions for everyone in the school, in order to feel safe and protected and also to support those who are going through a hard time.
That is how my life turned, but I am happy that I got to become a voice for all and saved those in need around me, and I believe if you see one in need you must help because you might not know how many are going through that situation and in need of a voice to save them. Be the first one to make a change and empower others. “Your voice is your power and your power is your voice.”