Meanwhile, Ma Selebi sat in the kitchen in the dark. She could hear Angela sobbing in her room and couldn’t help but recall that day when she was a young girl and like her daughter, had also fallen pregnant, at 17. She had also sobbed for hours alone and been afraid.

What is a mother supposed to do? MaSelebi thought to herself.  I had no guidance before I got pregnant. My mother taught me not to ask dirty things. My boyfriend, Sipho, seemed to know everything. I thought he was so grown up. But when I told him I was pregnant, he turned into a little boy and put his hands over his ears.

‘YOUR baby, not mine!’ he had cried. His parents shrugged it off when I told them. They didn’t care. Their son was just being a man. ‘You are the one who should have taken more care!’

They blamed me. So did I.  So did everyone else. It was immoral and I had to be punished. Only my teacher had a kind word to say to me: ‘Anita, no matter what bad names other people call you, remember, there’s an angel in everyone!’

So that’s why I called my baby Angela. I prayed that the angel in her would protect her from harm. I did all I could.  I didn’t allow her to play with other children, especially not the boys. I always made sure she came home straight after school. Even if she was five minutes late I gave her a beating because her school was just down the road. We went to church and she enjoyed Sunday school and knew her Bible very well. I prayed every night she would be a good girl, an angel, and never make the same mistakes as me.  

Oh Lord, why didn’t my Angela turn out to be a good girl? Is it really all my fault?

WHAT DO YOU THINK? What is being a ‘good girl’ mean?  Can you blame MaSelebi? How can a mother protect her daughter?