She was the only one at home who could blow the poverty cloud over her family. Lesego Bodiga was a seventeen year old girl living in the township with her mother and little sister. Her mother was a temporary domestic worker in the township while Lesego was a Grade 10 pupil, and her sister was attending day care around the township.

The life that Lesego and her family were living was very poor because they did not have enough money to provide them with what they needed to sustain life.

One day Lesego’s mother decided to go around the township to look for a permanent job. She never wanted to see her family sleeping with empty stomachs. The poor mother searched and searched but never found a permanent job in the township. It was sad to see the poor woman trying hard to create a better life for her children on her own. Lesego finally accepted the situation which they faced. Because of financial issues, they had to borrow money from their neighbours for them to have lunch at school and to buy food in their house.

Lesego was now angry at herself that she couldn’t do anything while her family was stuck in the mud of poverty. She told herself that she couldn’t watch her family suffer because of hunger.

After some few days, Lesego’s mother started getting sick because of hunger. The poor girl had to quit school to take care of her sick mother and her little sister. It was hard for her to see her mother sick. A few days passed and Lesego’s mother passed away. It was Lesego’s responsibility to take care of everything. She had to ask for money to bury her mother and buy enough food for the funeral.

Fortunately after the funeral they were left with some leftovers for a few days. A week passed and there was no longer food for them in the house. Lesego had to go out to look for a job as she was now a mother and an older sister to her sister. Unfortunately she couldn’t get a job because she was under eighteen years old and didn’t have any qualifications. But, she had something in mind, becoming a prostitute.

She decided to be a prostitute and had to sleep with men in order to put food on the table. A day came when she met a man. The man told Lesego that she was so beautiful that she cannot be a prostitute and she was also ruining her reputation. The man decided to help Lesego to become a better person in life; he married Lesego. They lived happily ever after in the suburbs and had everything they needed.

The End