The sheets were cold and wet and Sam was shaking uncontrollably.

“Sam, subayeka bandithathe, please don’t let them take me!” Sinethemba cried out, clinging on to her brother when social services had came to take her away. Those were the last words Sam heard from his sister before they were separated. Those were the words he still heard every night in his dreams.

“Ndizaz’okuthatha! I will come for you!” Sam shouted, waking from the nightmare. He sat up on his bunk bed, drenched in sweat. Had any of the other kids at The Haven Children’s Home heard his screams? But he was alone in the dormitory. All the others had gone to breakfast.

Every day since he was parted from Sinethemba he worried about the promise he had made her: Ndizaz’okuthatha. But how could he rescue her? It seemed impossible. Since they had been parted he had been moved from one foster home to another. He wasn’t really sure if they would ever be together again. One thing for sure was that they could never be a family again, not a family how they used to be anyway, not one with a mom and a dad.

After his mother died of colon cancer their father could not cope with taking care of two teenagers. He fell sick and lost his job. Sam watched helplessly as their father faded away before their eyes. When he died Sam had to be the adult. Their neighbours were kind to them but when they saw the children struggling they called Social Services. The social worker in charge of their case promised that when Sinethemba was settled in her new foster home, Sam could visit. They would look for a home for him too.

Now it had been six months since Sam had seen Sinethemba. She was living at Mam’Gqwashu’s. This woman took in foster kids but people said it was just so that she could get child benefits from government. She was well known for her ill-treatment of all the kids she fostered. But Social Services were too busy to investigate properly, or else they didn’t care, thought Sam.

Rumour had it that she was so cruel that she sat back and made the kids, even the very young ones, do all the house chores , plus heavy manual labour in her big vegetable garden. Yet she fed them as little tasteless food as she could get away with, and she sold the produce they grew. If they refused to work, she would lock them up in a tiny store room for days.

She would buy them one set of nice clothes but they only got to wear them when Social Services came to check on them. Then, with a smile on her face that was as fake as her wigs, Mam’Gqwashu would tell the social worker, “We are all one big happy family here.”

Sam worried that by now he should have made a plan to rescue his sister. But things had gone from bad to worse. And being moved around made it hard for him to visit her, make friends, go to school, or get a job.

Then finally he had ended up at The Haven Children’s home where he was able to live with young people his own age. Here he did not feel so alone. They were all orphans; it was something they shared and something that connected them.

Still, every night he dreamed about his sister. He needed to get money so that they could be together. He would rent a backyard room. At least then they could be a small family. He would look after Sinethemba better than Mam’Gqwashu. He would give her the love she needed and provide for her even if he was only seventeen. All Mam’Gqwashu’s kids were known to be skinny because she didn’t feed them well, and then they would end up getting sick. Sam couldn’t bear to think of what she was doing to his sister. The thought of a starving, skinny Sinethemba haunted him. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to make a plan to rescue her.

But right now, he had to get up and start on his own chores.

“Samuel Khoza, please come to the office,” he heard his name called through the intercom. Something was up. Mr Sotshononda only called him by his full name when he had something important to tell him. Sam worried that he had been called because he had overslept and missed breakfast. He couldn’t be kicked out of The Haven, not yet. He wasn’t ready.

Sam headed for the office at once, fear gripping his stomach. But when he walked into Mr Sotshononda’s office the head of the home was smiling; in fact he was beaming. “Sam, I have good news for you today.” Mr Sotshononda took pleasure in his work. He was one of the nicest people at the home, but he was also a no-nonsense kind of man which made every child at the home listen to him with respect. “We have found a school for you. Starting from tomorrow you will be attending Vulamasango High School. I know that it’s the second term, but the school is willing to give you a chance.”

Sam was shocked by the news. I haven’t been to school for so long. Will I be able to handle it? he thought.

“Sam, you are a very bright boy and I know that you can do well at this school,” Mr Sotshononda assured him, as though he could read Sam’s fears. He put his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Look, if you need any help with anything at all, you just come to me. The teachers know your situation so I am sure they won’t mind helping you as well.”

How can he have so much faith in me? Surely he must have mistaken me for someone else, Sam thought. When I was at school my grades weren’t great. Sam couldn’t stop wondering why Mr Sotshononda regarded him so highly.

That night Sam couldn’t sleep at all for fear of going to a new school and failing. He kept imagining how horribly the first day would go and how Mr Sotshononda would be so disappointed in him.

The next morning he got up when the first light came through the curtains. He took care putting on his uniform that he had been given by Mr Sotshononda when he had left the office.

“Wow!” he thought to himself when he arrived at the gate of the new school. Every learner looked exactly the same in their clean, neat school uniforms. The buildings looked new and there was even a sports field. Sam had never seen a school like this before. The ones he had attended before had broken windows, or no windows at all, and the school yard was mostly sand and rubble. The teachers never really cared much for the safety of the learners. Sam remembered the day he and his sister were attacked on school grounds by a group of boys who wanted their lunch money. The teachers did nothing to stop the thugs.

The school bell rang as he crossed his new school’s grounds. Everyone started running, but he was lost. This was horrible, just like his dream. He wished he could just turn around and run back to The Haven. He was left standing all by himself.

“Hey you, hurry up. What are you waiting for? Go to class before I call your teacher.”

He turned to see a beautiful girl walking towards him. Her voice was firm but sweet at the same time, like she would give him a chance. He was speechless.

“Bhuti undimamele? Are you listening?” she said again, only this time she was standing right in front of him.

He remembered his mother’s voice telling him that his cute smile could get him out of any trouble. He flashed her one. She stepped back and looked away. Now he was confused.

Just then a boy ran past. “Khawuleza! Move it!” he shouted. “Zinhle doesn’t mess around bra. She will get you in trouble,” he laughed as he and Sam dashed for the corridor.

“It’s my first day and I am not sure where the class is,” Sam said, relieved to have found help. He was grinning as they ran towards the classrooms.

“Well you came to the right person, mfowethu,” said the boy, and he tapped Sam on the shoulder. Sam felt that this guy could be a friend.

As they went into the class, having found out they were the same Grade, Sam turned and looked back down the passage. The beautiful Zinhle was still standing there, watching him.

***

Tell us what you think: Is it possible for Sam to rescue Sinethemba?