The sun rises at 6:40am, shining its rays into the home of two siblings. Lungelo is preparing for school, while Lwazi is fast asleep. Lungelo stares at his torn-apart school shoes, old with strings hanging loose, trying to stay intact.

“Lwazi! Wake up.” Lungelo pushes him awake.

“What is it?”

“When will you be able to buy me new school shoes? I don’t think I’ll last the next two days with these,” Lungelo says, sitting down with a drowned face.

“Eish, I don’t know, man, I’ll try stitching them again.”

“You finished the thread last time didn’t you?”

“Ja. Has anyone promised you to show up to have their haircut here ahead of the school trip?”

“No, no one did. But I have distributed your posters throughout the school and to the teachers as well.”

“You did your best, if I had a smart phone I’d share on Facebook as well. I’ll be starting working at the shop today with Innocent, but I don’t think they’ll offer me upfront payment.”

“You can try asking Innocent’s father to lend you money and he’ll deduct it from your payment month end?”

“I’ll try, but Innocent’s father is not an approachable person, yoh!”

“Try, and we’ve already borrowed money from everyone we’re close to, so he’s our only hope.”

“Don’t worry too much, little bro. You need to focus on your schoolwork, and leave the rest to me. I’ll take care of it, alright?”

“Yeah, I’m going so I’ll see you in the afternoon,” Lungelo says, and leaves for school.

For a year now, they’ve been living all alone in their two-roomed shack. Lwazi gets up to look at a photo of their grandmother and parents beside his bed. He holds it up, and stares at it with watery eyes.

“I can’t believe it’s been a year now. Grandmother, Aunt Lorrie and Uncle Samuel lied to you. They’re not taking care of us like they promised you to. They disappeared with everyone else right after your funeral. We’re all alone, with nobody to hold on to.”

He gets up in tears, and starts preparing for work. Lwazi has since taken it on himself to look after Lungelo. In his memories, he still remembers their parents from their monthly visits 11 years ago, back when he was 12 years old, and Lungelo was only a two-year-old baby. Then all he was told by their grandmother was that they had died in a car accident.

“All I’m praying for is that Lungelo finishes schooling, he only has four years left now. I’m sure he’ll make it to qualifying for a bursary. Then I won’t have to worry a lot. Unlike me, he must not quit school.”

Going through the pots, Lwazi finds that Lungelo has eaten all the leftovers. For the fourth day of the week, he has to start the morning on an empty stomach. He finishes dusting the house. He puts on his torn jeans, his faded T-shirt, and sandals, and heads out to the shop.

Tell us: What kind of help do Lwazi and Lungelo need?