My name is Sandile I live in zola, Soweto. I live with my son Siphosami. Sipho never had a mother but he was a gift. How you may ask well let me tell you.
It was one afternoon and I had just came back from school. I always lay in my bed and listen to RnB on my headsets and I hate getting disturbed.
“Sipho!” My mom called. “Come here, I need you to go to the butchery.”
“Coming,” I said knowing very well that I’m pissed.
I went to the living room where my mom was sitting. She was sipping tea from a mug my dad gave her in the 1990s when he came back from England and trust me she has never drank from another cup. She drinks tea, coffee, cooldrink and every other drunk the is to mention. “Now,” she said while she put her cup down on the coffee table and took out R1000 which was divided into R100’s. “You’re are going to buy with all that money. As usual, you’re going to buy-“
I cut in. “Chicken, Boer wors, red meat and pork” I knew this because I buy meat every single month.
“Good,” she said as she handed me the money and took the cup of tea from the coffee table.
I walked for about a kilometre, the butchery was about 12 streets from my house but it was no big deal. I went in and waited in line. It was finally my turn to buy. “Sibeko,” the butcher Nothile said. He called me by my last name because he knew my father. “What can I offer you today?”
“Just the usual Bab Nothile,” I said.
I waited for about 5 minutes and he came back with 4 plastics filled with meat. Not to brag but I’m a weight lifting champion so the plastics weren’t heavy at all. “Thank you,” I said as I left the store. A young man, probably a matriculant stood in front of me at the door. Surprised and shocked as I was, he looked like he has just seen a ghost. “Uhm sorry,” I said not trying to sound disrespectful.
“Hi” he said as he caught his breath. He was running for sure. “Could you do me a favour?”
I was shocked but I said, “yeah sure”
I didn’t notice that he was carrying a baby wrapped in a cute blanket. Note: I have a love for babies. “Could you hold my baby for me? I forgot my wallet in the car” I was relieved. I thought he was going to ask me to kill a person.
“Okay” I put the plastics down and took the baby as the young man gave him. I assumed it was a him because of the blue blanket). I waited for about 5 minutes I was sure that the young man was mining for his wallet. I went out of the butcher and looked around to see no car parked or the young man. I realized on that moment that I was left with a baby I didn’t know by a man I didn’t know. I took the plastics from the ground. Don’t ask how I managed to carry a baby and 4 plastics but I managed.
I walked around the surrounding areas of the butcher until I felt like I was going crazy. I took the most notorious decision I ever took in my life and decided to go back home WITH THE BABY. When I arrived at my house I placed the plastics on the kitchen cabinet countertop and went to the living room with the baby. I immediately heard my mom yelling. “Whose child is this?” She was fuming “Sandile Sikhumbuzo Sibeko-“
I really don’t understand why my mom has a problem with children. “Ma!” I said as I caught my breath. “I can explain”
“Explain!”
“So this man asked me to carry his baby for him while he went to fetch his wallet from his car and when he took the time I went out to look and I realized he had left”
“My God!. You’re sending me to an early grave” she said. “How in the right mind can you take a child just like that?”
“I don’t know it’s just humility. I don’t know that man or this baby if it’s a girl or a boy”
My mom took the baby and examined him. “It’s a girl. And there’s a note” I was not expecting the baby to be a girl. The note read whoever finds this child please take care of her. Her name is Siphosami. “well at least she’s got a name” I said in hope.
That’s how I found Siphosami. Days later my mom went to home affairs and agreed to take care of her while I was at school. I grew to love Siphosami and she was my daughter ever since.