I was raised by a single parent. She gave me life and made sure I never go to bed with an empty stomach. She was unemployed but the little cents she made from selling the old metals to a nearby scrap-yard; meant she could at least put bread on the table.

I remember one morning when she called me to help her lift a big heavy metal box on a wheelbarrow.

“Victoria!” Mom would yell with her soft voice.

“I’m coming!” I would respond, leaving what I was doing to hear what she was going to say.

Our neighbour had given that heavy metal box to my mother because they were no longer using it. The more heavy items she brought to the scrap-yard; meant she would get more rands from the scrap-yard’s big tummied cashier. My mother with her varying earnings bought me a new school uniform, stationery and paid school fees. She made sure that I become a better person every day. I was her priority.

People would swear I had both parents who were financial stable judged by my appearance and attire. I believe that’s a role mother should play on their children. A mother’s presence shall give warmth to her children. My mother was an indescribable person whose love never ended.

My name is Victoria Ntanga. I grew up in a small township called Tshepong. Lots of people in my township were not working; almost the half of the township. They would gather at taverns drinking every kind of beer. Only God knows where they got money to buy alcohol every day.

The women would tighten up their babies on their backs with a towel and march on to the township’s biggest tavern at Bra Biza’s tavern. By God’s grace my mom had never tasted alcohol. If she was drinking; I swear things would be far worse at home.

My mother and I lived in a two roomed shack. Half of our shack’s roof was covered by a black sail waterproof. My mother had to hustle hard in order to buy more zink that would replace the black embarrassing sail that was over our heads. When heavy rains fell where the zink joins with the sail; hard drops would easily make their way inside the shack. We had to remove my mother’s bed to where there were no drops.

I remember at school when I was about to write a Maths test. I took out my calculator from my pocket, I pressed the button marked “ON” but the screen didn’t show anything. That roused my nerves. I pressed again much harder this time. But still the screen didn’t show anything. I was wondering what had happened to my calculator till I realised there were a couple of drops inside the calculator’s screen. It happened my calculator got soaked by a heavy rain that fell a day before. I was ordered to borrow a calculator from other classes by my maths teacher.

In my childhood I realised that my mother had only one eye but I didn’t bother to ask what had happened to her. I thought asking her would refresh old wounds. Maybe she lost it while she was beaten by my no good father, I thought. I had seen many guys in my township beating their partners like it’s our township’s custom. My so called father disappeared from the day he knew my mother was pregnant. My mother carried me for nine months with no support from the man who impregnated her.

I attended my lower grades at Lemotso Primary School I then went to do my higher grades at Davideson High School in Johannesburg. That’s where I started seeing the other side of life. I wanted to fit in a group of girls who wore fancy clothes and possessed lots of luxuries. I started demanding some nice clothes, jewelleries and shoes that my mother could not afford. I wasn’t so dull at all. My appearance didn’t describe the situation I was in back at home.

At school I was a bright child who was an eager to learn. I remember Mr Sibisi, my Maths teacher bought me a new “CASIO” calculator and a dictionary hence I got ninety per cent in that maths test I wrote with a borrowed calculator. The teachers saw my potential and they suggested that I must be one of the candidates to be voted for the presidency hot seat. Guess what, I won the elections with a massive two hundreds and fifteen votes.

The second best had one hundred and sixty six votes. I had to listen to learner’s complaints, suggestions about where the next school tour should be. Actually I was the link between the tutors and the school pupils. It was quite challenging sometimes but it brought me fame. I felt like the queen of the school.

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