To: Trinity Luhabe trinityluhabe@gmail.com
From: Dean of Students – Sisulu House gcobani@sisuluhouse. co.za
Re: Protest Action

Dear Ms Luhabe,

I have been asked to write to you in my capacity as Dean of Students to inform you that the senior management and Board of Trustees of Brentwood College disapprove of the protest action you and your friends are engaged in, and call upon you to stop it with immediate effect. They feel that it is lowering the reputation of the school in the eyes of the community.

I would also like to add in my personal capacity that peaceful protest is legally protected by our constitution and has been supported by Brentwood College in the past. The issue of teen pregnancy is very close to my heart. I was a teen mother who was forced to interrupt my education for many years. It was only through luck that I was able to finish my education and pursue a career.

But I must remind you officially that the school calls upon you to stop the protest, and warns that measures will be taken if you do not.

With all good wishes.

Kind regards,

Grace Gcobani
Dean of Students
Sisulu House Brentwood College

***

To: Trinity Luhabe trinityluhabe@gmail.com
From: Head of Department – History jwaise@sisuluhouse.co.za
Re: Submission for School Newspaper

Dear Trinity,

Many thanks for the article you submitted to the school newspaper about the ongoing pregnancy protest you and your friends are engaged upon. I discussed it with the student editorial board and we would very much like to publish it. We feel it represents an important issue to our school community.
May I also compliment you on how well written it was. You have an accessible writing style that is a breath of fresh air for our paper. If you have any other burning issues you would like to write about, please don’t hesitate to submit them.

Your protest is close to my heart as I was the child of a teenage mother. I have some inkling of how my mother struggled and how all the decks were stacked against her. I don’t want to live in a world where this still happens to teen moms. I really believe that completing your education is the best chance you have of making a success in life. I would like to see all teen moms having that opportunity, and that’s why I am 100% behind your campaign.

Good luck! I wish you all success and hope you get the ruling you are fighting for.

Kind regards,

Jenny Waise
Head of History
Brentwood College

***

“If I have to wear this belly for one more day, I am going to scream,” says Yasmin.

“I know what you mean,” says Lael. “I’m getting a rash on my tummy from where it rubs against my skin. It’s so hot and itchy.”

Amira unstraps hers and throws it onto her bed. “Ahhh…” she sighs. “That’s better!”

Nosipho fiddles behind her back as though she also wants to unstrap a belly. “Oops, nope. Turns out this one doesn’t come off. Apparently, I have to keep it on twenty-four/seven.”

Lael laughs. “I bet yours doesn’t make your skin look like this.”

She lifts up her top to show us the blotchy rash that has developed around her belly button.

“Eew! Stop!” says Amira.

“Listen, if we’re going to get into a battle over whether real pregnancy symptoms or fake pregnancy symptoms are the worst, I will win every time.” Nosipho folds her arms and gives us a look. “Yes, I will. Do you guys want to hear about my discharge?”

“No!”

“Gross!”

“Enough!”

We throw our bellies at her until she begs for mercy. Eventually we are all stretched out on various beds.

“Seriously though, you guys,” says Yasmin. “How much longer are we going to have to keep this up? Is there any sign that the school is cracking?”

“They haven’t said anything to me,” Nosipho sighs. “As far as I know I’ve got two weeks left, and then I have to be out.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Lael says. “We won’t let it.”

“All I know is that Ms Waise and Ms Gcobani are on our side.” I explain about the emails I received from them. “Plus, there will be an article about the protest in the next edition of the school newspaper.”

Lael checks the school calendar on her phone. “That’s only coming out next week. I’m not sure we can wait that long. The more they get used to seeing us dressed like this, the less effective the protest becomes.”

Nosipho is biting her thumb nail. I hate to see her stressing like this. I’m sure it’s not good for her or for the baby. Aren’t pregnant moms supposed to be all chilled, and, like, doing yoga all the time? It’s not right that she has to worry about whether she will still be allowed to attend school in two weeks.

“We need to kick it up a notch, guys,” I say. “We need to make a bigger impact.”

“But how?” says Amira. “Are we going to buy more bellies? We hardly have enough people to wear the ones we’ve got. Every day there are spare bellies left in the cupboard.”

“We need to make it more public. As long as it’s on school grounds, they can hush it up. We should go some-where like Sandton City and make a big thing of it.”

“We boarders aren’t getting an outing until next weekend,” says Lael. “That’s too far away.”

“So, it will have to be the day-girls. And boy, including Munashe. Even five or six of us will make a difference. We can take lots of photos and post them to Instagram.”

“My account is private.”

“So’s mine.”

“And mine.”

“Then we can make them public for a few days. And we can post pictures and videos to Snapchat as well.”

“And Facebook and Twitter!” Lael sounds enthusi-astic for the first time today. “We’ll tag the school. We’ll post our photos on the Brentwood College Facebook site. They’ll get deleted, but not before a bunch of people have seen them.”

I hold up a finger as an idea of total brilliance floods into my mind. “Wait, you guys, wait. I have an even better idea. Instead of protesting against Brentwood for refusing to allow a pregnant girl to continue her education, we should try to shame them by pretending that they have already agreed to let her stay.”

Lael gets it at once. Our minds have always been in sync.

“Yes! Genius. We could say something like, “I’m so proud of my school Brentwood College for not discrim-inating against pregnant learners.”

“Yay for Brentwood College, the most progressive school in Sandton.” Yasmin runs with the idea.

“I’m so glad I go to Brentwood College where young women are free to finish their education,” adds Amira.
We grin at each other like lunatics.

“This could work, you guys,” I say. “This could actually work.”

***