Grade 9, Thlokomelo
Chapter 1
Palesa was a young, smart, beautiful and talented girl in themcommunity. She lived with her parents and her two sisters. She was the first-born, and they were all girls. They lived in Slovo Park with her family, in a two-roomed shack. Her mother worked as a domestic worker and her father was a security guard at a Pick ‘n Pay store. She was doing Grade 9 in Buyani Secondary School. She was a very clever girl and she loved her school work so much.
One day when she returned from school, she switched on the television, and saw that the President was addressing the nation. She heard him saying that there will be a lockdown for 21 days and that people must lock themselves in their homes. If they went out, there will be soldiers all over the place and school learners will have to study online.
Chapter 2
After 21 days of lockdown, during which people stayed in their homes, the President decided to add another 2 weeks of lockdown. Palesa was very angry about this because of not going to school as she loved school so much. During the 21 days, Palesa tried to study at home but she could not, because there was always noise in the house. Her siblings were always running around, and her mother was always around because she lost her job when the lockdown started. She worked for the whites as a domestic worker, at the beginning of lockdown, they told her not to come to work anymore.
Her father managed to keep his job. He was a security guard at a food store after all. There were soldiers all over the place, making sure that everyone is in their houses, and if they find you outside, they would punish you. Palesa’s family was not wealthy but they tried their best not to show the children how bad the situation is.
Chapter 3
The President addressed the nation yesterday, he said that the country is going to Level 4. First we were in Level 5, where regulations were very strict, but now what we are in Level 4, some rules will be cancelled. Palesa was not happy that the schools were still closed. She was starting to lose interest in school day by day. Then she started chilling with bad girls who smoke, drink and are always with boys. She did not care. She just said that there is no use studying because they will never go back to school again. The girls left Palesa in a room alone with a boy and she was very dizzy after the boy made her smoke weed. He took advantage of this and slept with her.
Chapter 4
Palesa is now two months’ pregnant. She got pregnant after she slept with the boy. She was so ashamed to tell her parents. Her dream was to be a doctor and work in one of those big, private hospitals. But that’s not going to happen with the baby on the way. When she told her father, he almost kicked her out of the house, but her mother spoke to him saying it was a mistake.