Mr Ndlovu: "We will leave on Sunday
because tomorrow I have some
business to finalize here. On Monday
you will sign your employment contract
and go through your work induction.
Tomorrow I would like to officially meet
your mother and explain why I am taking
her smart daughter away from her."
Lino mtha: "Thank you, I will see you on
Sunday." I then got out of the car.
So many thoughts started running in my
mind. What if he wants sex in exchange
for a job? I mean, that offer sounded too
good to be true. How can he trust an
amateur like me to take over such a big
case? As much as I need to work for
such a big company, I am not willing to compromise my morals and principles. I
got inside the house.
Lino mtha: "Ma Lino mtha."
Mama: "Ow Lino mtha my child."
See, Mom was Pedi from Limpopo in
Tzaneen and she married my dad who
was Xhosa, that's why me and my two
siblings have Xhosa names. I am the
firstborn, then followed by my 17-year-old
brother Siphosihle, then my little sister
who is 13 years old, her name is Ntosh.
Mom was very beautiful, but then her
face was full of a makeup called
poverty. Just by looking at her you could
read poverty. She was surviving by
washing clothes for people and doing
any kind of household jobs. She tried by all means that we never sleep hungry.
When I was in varsity, she would send
me some money monthly to buy stuff.
So many times I slept on a hungry stomach,
but I never ever shared with her because
I didn't want to stress her out.
Dad passed away when I was just 10 years
old. He was working at Shoprite as a
cleaner. He did manage to build us a 4-
bedroom brick house, but his family
chased us away when we were young,
and they never bothered to check how
we were doing.
We stayed on the street for months,
sleeping under the bridge while Mom
was busy building the mud house we are
currently staying in at Ga Mashashane,
Limpopo.