It is 2:45 in the morning and Gogo coughs until she is out of breath. Vusi rushes into her bedroom with a glass of water.

“I’m ill, my grandchild. I don’t think I’ll make it through this time,” Gogo says, when her breathing returns to normal. “What will happen to you? Your mother got married and abandoned us. Her sister disappeared as well. Last I heard she was in Joburg. Same with your uncles. None of them care about us. Don’t even get me started on uncle Bonginkosi. I know you are young, but you can tell that his girlfriend hates us; she can’t even hide it.”

“That’s true, Gogo, they have all abandoned us. But I am begging you to keep faith in God. Don’t lose hope,” says Vusi. “You are much better now, Gogo. Much better than last week.”

“I am trying to be strong for you and Sakhile,” Gogo says and takes another sip of water. “But I can feel my flesh and soul wasting away. My only wish now is that God takes my life after you have finished writing your matric exams. I don’t want anything to disturb your studies.”

“You will be with us for a long time still, Gogo,” says Vusi, as Gogo falls back to sleep.

Gogo MaKhumalo had been married to the youngest son of the affluent Ntuli family, which owns a vast piece of land. The family unit was important back then; a clan stayed together in the same homestead.

She and her husband built their own little house within the Ntuli homestead. It was all roses for a while but tragedy struck, and her husband died. Things were never the same in the homestead after that. The oldest Ntuli brother became rich and built a mansion there. He watched Gogo MaKhumalo and her children and grandchildren live in poverty, and offered no help. It has continued like that to this very day.

Gogo is everything to her two grandchildren: Vusi, who is eighteen, and Sakhile, who is sixteen. Vusi’s mother got pregnant with him in high school and disappeared when Gogo noticed her growing belly. She returned with Vusi, who was only six days old, but disappeared a few days later, leaving the baby with Gogo.

Vusi was eight years old when he first met his mother. There was a man she introduced as ‘Mzimela’ next to her. He had come to pay lobola. She married and then simply left them, as she had done before.

Vusi does not know Sakhile’s mother either. She got pregnant with Sakhile, left him with Gogo MaKhumalo, and disappeared to Johannesburg. Gogo’s sons are no better. They work, but don’t look after her.

***

Tell us: What do you think will happen to Vusi and Sakhile if Gogo MaKhumalo dies?