Thembi

Thembi and her siblings set about on their way to school, she would have loved to wait for her friend but Mavis was notorious for being late, so she wasn’t going to get caught up in that.  There were many other kids on the way, chatting away as usual. Going to school was nothing more than routine for most of these children, there was no real excitement about it. So as far as they were concerned, they went to school to become students. This kind of mentality could really be blamed on the home environment for many of them. The parents themselves could hardly write their own names later on have an understanding of what school was about.

There was this one man in particular who would be a classical example of how society regarded school. He had a lot of cattle and he was very much involved in maize farming, he was probably the best in the whole village. This man didn’t want his children to go to school, in his view it was a complete waste of valuable time that could be spent in the fields or herding cattle. He boasted so much on how he was doing just fine without any formal education, so his children must follow his example, as far as he was concerned, the schools were making the kids lazy. So all of his children only went to school to learn to write a letter, which was the most common means of communication by then. The inspiration was simply not there for the children to become anything.

But Thembi was hopeful, that one day she will make it, at least to get her family out of the miserable life they were currently living. She looked up to her teachers, they seemed to be having a good life. She constantly worried though about how she was going to make it through school, its not like finances were abundantly available especially now that Mother couldn’t continue going to the market. They had a lot of relatives but most of them were struggling with their own families as well.

Her uncles from her father’s side were mean old bags in her eyes, she never saw them being helpful at all, they seemed to disappear on end only to show up when they needed her and he siblings to do some chores for them. This uncle in particular, the oldest in Father’s family had a brood of children all over the place, so much so that he even forgot their names. He would just call any name and the one closest to him would respond. Almost every second month another long lost child appeared and Thembi seriously thought this was beginning to interfere with his mind. He was now known for having a full blown conversation with himself. There were rumors that he had started sleep walking so much that he would milk a cow without even knowing it in the middle of the night……

So there wasn’t much hope for help from that side, her uncles were popular for all the wrong reasons, drinking, fighting amongst themselves and there were also stories going around about women. Mother’s side of the family was a little bit more sober but they truly weren’t in a position to offer any financial support. Thembi was fairly good at all her subjects, one of her teachers always said if she could more effort she’ll make it through her O Levels. Although it seemed so far fetched Thembi promised herself she would try.

This particular day was one of those that Thembi dreaded, the school fees was due and she and her siblings had fallen quite a few months behind. There was no way to pay, Mother had used up all their remaining assets trying to find a cure for Father and now she was sick herself. The Headmaster was doing his rounds, calling out the culprits to go and gather at the assembly point so they can go back home. Thembi just waited for her turn wondering how she was going to get around this one. Her teacher, Mr Dhliwayo had always negotiated on her behalf saying she has a lot of potential she shouldn’t be missing class. But today was different, the Head was having none of it, more than half of the school was in arrears.

Exactly an hour after getting to school, Thembi and her siblings were on their way back home, along with Mavis who was livid. ‘You see, I told you this is useless. I will just go off and get myself a job and start earning some money rather than going to school everyday only to come back an hour later!’, she fumed. Thembi was silent for a moment wondering if what her friend was saying was maybe a good idea after all. But she was scared, she couldn’t just go off to the city by herself, all the terrible stories she had heard of the city. ‘No my friend, I don’t think that is a good idea at all. The city is too big and we don’t know anyone there. What if we disappear like Lorraine, remember? Up to this day no one knows what happened to her!’, Thembi said to her friend stopping briefly to look her in the eye.

Mavis roared with laughter. ‘You know Thembi, I don’t even know what I am still doing here with you. You are so naive sometimes its beyond me!’, she said throwing up her hands as if in surrender. ‘Are you seriously telling me you believe that nonsense. I promise you that Lorraine is living it up in the city, you’ll see her one day she’ll show up here in a big car. And you’ll still be playing the ‘school game’, well my friend, not me’.

Thembi kept quiet, she knew better than to get into an argument with her friend, she decided they will talk it over another day when the mood was better.

‘Thembi let the kids go home while you accompany me to the shops. I have to get something’, that was Mavis already slowing down so they can take the way to the shop.

‘Oh, what do you want get? So if you have money why didn’t you put it towards your fees?’, asked Thembi surprised.

‘And sleep on an empty stomach?’, Mavis raised her eyebrows. Thembi shrugged and told the kids to go she will be with them soon. She knew she would probably get into trouble with Mother who didn’t like it when she wandered around the shops, so much so that she didn’t even send her there. She would much rather go herself. Thembi decided that just this once was not so bad. And so they took off……