My name is Lufuno, I am 25 years old and my little sister Mpho is 20. When daddy passed away I was only 15 years old. We used to stay with our parents up until our dad passed away. His family took everything that belonged to us, including our home, clothes, food and money. We literally went out of the house naked, mom had no say in anything. My dad’s death changed her towards the world and her children. We stayed on the streets for about a week, begging people for food and money to buy sanitary towels; it took mom less than a month to move on, she found us a proper mansion to stay in and plenty of food.

The first few months were amazing, we didn’t clean or cook, we had people who did that for us. Things changed when mom and Thulani got married after dating for about nine months. Thulani chased away every helper who worked there and told us that we should start cleaning and cooking. Mom always agreed with everything he said.

Mpho and I started cleaning and cooking when we were sixteen and eleven years old respectively. Thulani knew everything about us, even that I started my periods at the age of fifteen. At first I did not think it was weird for him to know because I was told to treat him like a father.

It was on a rainy Saturday that I was left with Thulani in that big mansion. He told me not to clean or cook, he would order food for us. Mom went to visit her friend for the weekend, and took Mpho with her. Later that day, Thulani called me to come and eat; he had ordered pizza for us.

“Go to my room and look for my black leather jacket, please, I want to go visit friends,” Thulani said, after eating.

I agreed, not suspecting anything.

Seconds later, Thulani closed the door behind him and instructed me to take off my clothes. I refused for some time but he managed to break through and raped me. He bathed me then told me that if I told mom he would kill her and my little sister too. He went out and left me in the house alone. I could not help but cry uncontrollably, asking myself questions with no answers until I fell asleep.

This continued for almost four years, and mom would always disappear with Mpho each and every weekend, leaving me with her husband. There was no week where he didn’t rape me. It continued up until I was twenty years old and ran away from home without telling anyone. I started smoking drugs and sleeping around with men so that they could give me money to buy drugs.

Tell us: What do you think of Thulani’s behaviour?