Grade 9, Thlokomelo Drop in Centre
In a village called Sweetwater, there was a girl called Zandile. She was living with her brother. Their mother, Zanke, left them to find a job in Johannesburg. She said that she would come back. Zandile would do anything to make her brother happy because their mother made her make a promise that she couldn’t keep.
One day, Zandile found someone to help them to find their mother because it had been five years since she left. Sis Busi would always make sure that they went to school and back safely and made sure that they ate. Sis Busi wanted to take them to stay with her because she was living alone with no children.
One Monday she took them to town and bought them new clothes and more things that they needed. Busi wanted to make sure that Zandile went to college to study. She was doing grade 12. Zandile passed and got six distinctions and got a bursary to study in England. Every university wanted her.
Zandile had to take Zonke and Sis Busi with her because England was very far from where they lived. The minute they began packing their clothes to leave, there was a loud knocking at the door. When Zandile opened it, she saw that it was their mother. She was very sick and didn’t have long to live. Zandile and Zonke cried because they saw her pain. Thando said that she was sorry for the things she had done to them. She asked, “Please forgive me.”