My name is Latoya I’m 41 years of age and grew up in the streets of Soweto,Meadowlands to be precise.Life was good we were a close neat family consisting of my great -grandma,my two grandmas,the third already living in town with her white husband and their child,which was a big achievement since they lived in the post apartheid regime,my Mom and Aunt lived with us.See i was an illegitimate child and had a good relationship with my Mom till she decided to get married when I was seven.When everyone was happy for her i dispiced the fact one stranger came to our lives,on the wedding day i was the most saddest person there as i watched uncles and aunts,family enjoying themselves.They moved a couple of blocks away to start up their new family and I had to stay behind with my grandma’s.

A year went by and they had a baby boy called Sipho after Sipho was born my heart warmed up and it was therefore decided in the family that we were moving from Soweto going to live in town, Jo’burg.It was sad to leave the only place I knew,my friends and what i knew life was.We moved in 1991and the only solace I had was the fact we all lived in one place now,it made life bearable cause all my loved ones were under one roof.My stepDad was what we call nowadays ‘Sbari Makoti’ so my joy didn’t last much as there were now looking for an ultimate placement to live not knowing they wanted me to live with them.A few years down the line 1994 when people went to vote we were now comfortably living Together as a family.

I had enrolled in a school near our flat my Mom had a Salon and my stepdad was working at a restaurant,my little brother was attending creche.I didn’t know life will ever be somber again,untill my step dad started beating away on my Mom,it felt like my life was closing down on me we’d normally go back to my grandma’s and he’d come apologize and we’d go back again up until a time I didn’t go back and remained back with my grandma to stay with her and I got that feeling of hatred towards this man who married my mom from right back then.Time went by and she didn’t want my Mom to work anymore since she was pregnant with his second child,I guess that was isolation so she would always be alone and not talk about her problems to others.

I on the other hand was self destructive more when I was in highschool id already had a boyfriend i found solace in,only to find myself pregnant in Matric just like my Mother.My boyfriend Sfiso denied the baby,I made a choice to write my exams and finish school in that situation,it wasn’t easy bt it payed of i now have an illegitimate child by the name of Samukelo a year after Samukelo was born my sister Prite was to turn 7 my great-Grandma passed on.That was my core,i fell in a great depression and felt I didn’t have anyone anymore ,with my Mom being abused and the father of my child not being there for me.

While I was at work at Spar as a Cashier I then noticed there was this guy who normally buys at my till everyday until he confessed it was because he just wanted to see me.We started dating he was a down to earth person and one day even came to the house to introduce himself to my grandma’s…I knew from right then i had a man.2007 he had paid Lobola for me and i had a second child by him called Lulu ‘my baby girl’,he was elated and so was I,I’d finally found my happiness.

Life was hard,I was working in retail shops we lived with both our children but had no idea what he was doing in life and when i asked he would get annoyed with me telling me ‘As long as I put food on the table you not need worry’ I later found out he was selling drugs but I was no longer bothered cause I’d lived with him for so long there was no turning back.2012 he opened up a shop for me in my grandma’s garage I was so happy sadly my maternal grandma passed that year her passing brought so much de-stress cause my Mom found out my stepdad was no longer paying for the funeral policy which they depended on for my grandmas burial,things were tough.Bt that’s the year she finally moved out to come live back home and get a divorce,I suppose she had had it by then.

She was most welcomed,I was quiet elated honestly i could see them on a daily bases and had my children around all the time.Never be to relaxed in life its got its ups and downs fast forward 2016 my husband gets arrested and same year my grandma passes on living the remainder of the grandma that lived with her white husband,they claimed the house as theirs and sold it throwing us out into the wilderness of this earth.All that family life I’d wished for,all that sadness of passing of people,the struggles of life.We started from scratch me and my Mom now renting out a place to live with children to feed,school fees to be paid,feeding the household and clothing them without any help.

One had to be strong and stronger we get in this world we liveth nothing is promised except to better equip the younger ones so they can face the challenges of life in a better way.My Son is now attending the University of Western Cape while my daughter is in grade 11 having an ambition of being a doctor while my brother Sipho is a Policemen with his own family now and my sister a home Mom with 4 children,I wish she finds something to do for herself i wouldn’t want her to walk in my shoes.May God be with us all.Amen!!!