Whitney was a beautiful girl who loved people. She was a smart, black girl with long braids. Whitney’s mother was beautiful like Whitney but she was sick and she had been in hospital for a while. Whitney was looked after by her older sister, Dineo, and there was only the two of them. Whitney’s mother got sicker and sicker in hospital and eventually had a stroke. She had to be put on life support in order to breathe.

The doctors told Whitney and her sister that their mother could not make it so they suggested that they would switch off the machines. Whitney cried and in her mind she thought that her mother was sleeping and was not dead. Whitney asked the doctor to bring some water for her mother because maybe she would be thirsty when she woke up from sleeping for so long.

“Our mother is dead and you must accept that,” Dineo said to Whitney, and she instructed the doctors to turn off the machine.

Two weeks after the death of her mother, Dineo sent Whitney to an orphanage so that she can have a better life. Dineo could not afford to look after both of them. Whitney stayed there and on the third week, one of the caretakers, Mr Bhungane, told Whitney that he would send her to school because she was a very clever girl.

Whitney’s first day at school started off very tough. She got lost and confused and she did not know where to go. The principal took her to her class and introduced her to the other children. He told Whitney to call him “Xolile”. The next day Whitney was happy to go back to school. Whitney soon worked out where her classes were from the day.

She met a nice girl called Naledi. Naledi was a very patient girl and she loved people. Whitney soon became best friends with Naledi and they loved each other very much. Both of them were clever at school. The days went on and Whitney began to spend more and more time with her principal, Xolile. Xolile was spoiling Whitney and giving her everything she wanted including a brand new cell phone.

Whitney started missing classes. When teachers gave her low marks Xolile would be on Whitney’s side and tell the teachers to give her better marks. One day she went to Xolile’s house. They ate dinner together and then Whitney slept with Xolile without using a condom. After a few weeks Whitney felt pains in her body and started vomiting. She went to the clinic and her results came positive for HIV and she was pregnant.

The following day early in the morning she went to Xolile and they went to his house. She told him that she was pregnant. Xolile told her that he has nothing to do with this because he did not make her pregnant or HIV positive. Whitney told Xolile that he is the only man that slept with her. Xolile told Whitney that he would not take care of the child because it is not his child.

Whitney left and soon she was kicked out of the orphanage because she was pregnant. She went back to stay with Dineo but Dineo said she had no money to look after her. Whitney had to live on the streets relying on members of the community to feed her. She stayed alone and she was very sick because there was no one to take care of her.