Diary of a rural girl chapter 69

Diary of a rural girl chapter 69

  23:50   6 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Prophetic day

Chapter 69

When we arrived at our flat, my phone rang; it was my brother Matome who had called me. I answered the phone with an excitement spirit in me that my younger brother is checking up on me today and I said “Hello little sweet brother” “hello sister Mahlatse If you don't mind calling me back because I don’t have enough credits of airtime in my phone, I have serious issues with my baby Mama that I want share with you” Matome said to me while the call braked up. Without any waste of time I called him back and fortunately I had Vodacom free minutes that could last for 60 minutes. “here I am Matome, talk to me” I said to him and he begin by crying and said “Mahlatse my baby mama went to this other prophet in the village and she says the prophet told her that I am a wizard that is destructing her life and she said she don’t want to see me anymore in her life and that i am no longer allowed to see my baby since I will possess the baby with demons”.

While he was still talking i intervened in the conversation and said “Some other prophets just lie, because their intentions are to make money for business sake. I suggest you turn your life to Jesus so that he fight for you in situations like this because there is nothing much that I can do to fix things between you and your baby mother. All I can say is that; Start going to church on a regularly basis, pray, fast and read the word of God not forgetting to seek his kingdom first and all shall be added to you. God is the answer to everything boy, give your problems to him and he shall deliver you. I will call you again later to check if you ok, but you better be ok because stressing doesn't solve problems. I will ensure i call you again in the evening; enjoy the rest of the day because I want to get busy with my school work”. I then hanged up the call.

I told Kholo my friend about Matome ‘s situation in detail and then Kholo begin to tell me about the true Prophet Shepherd Bushiri who is known as major 1.His church is currently in Pretoria show ground where UNISA (university of stupid adults) and TUT (Take your time) students write their exams. The man he is so powerful and God is using him mightily to deliver and to heal the sick. He is Major1 the son of prophet Uebert angel, the retired prophet………

I and Kholo agreed to start attending church services there because Kholo persuaded me that major1 is the most powerful and true prophet of God. I believed what Kholo told me and also believed it’s also wise to plant a seed on a fertile soil like at ECG because the soil is fertile unlike other skoro,koro churches where the ground is hard. There is no way a plant can grow on a concrete and bear fruits.

 “Kholo what do you think might be the reasons many people are criticize him (Major1)?” I asked kholo “Mahlatse It does not matter their opinions over our father Major1, What matters is God's opinion over him. They may team up all against him, but they should know this, he and his God are the majority. People are just jealous because their pastors at their churches don’t have the spirit upon to perform miracles and wonders and they believe you need to be poor in order to be a Christian and the word of God says for the love of money is all source of evil but money is not evil. Mahlatse there is no opposition without position; it is the one with a ball that is marked in the football ground”. Kholo said to me because she used to watch prophetic channel back at home. I was so touched by Kholo‘s words and I said “I will take my brother Matome there, maybe he might get prophesy as well”.

While we were busy talking my phone rang, it was Tokollo who had called. He wanted to see me but I couldn’t afford him time to see me since we had unresolved issues after he came back from Cape Town for a business trip. After 20 minutes i went to my bedroom to get busy with my school work, when I entered my room I found a cobra on my bed, no…!!!... not a cobra, but a king cobra.

Stay tuned, Chapter 70 will follow soon.

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Diary of a rural girl chapter 68

Diary of a rural girl chapter 68

  18:26   1 comment:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

horrible day

Chapter 68

“Just like the day doesn’t start without the sun, my life doesn’t start without your touch and your sweet nothings. I thank God our paths crossed and smiles we shared that Brought you and I into Us.
I also pray that God grant you more years of Health, joy and wealth and all your desires.”

When we walked sweetness out to her flat we came across Thabang my ex-boyfriend, I don't know if I should refer to him as my ex-boyfriend because we had never engaged in a sexual intercourse and I believe sexual intercourse should have been occurred to qualify one as an ex. “Hello Thabang, how have you been, it had been a while without hearkening from you” I said in excitement and then he respond this way “buy a gift for a dog and you will be amazed at the way it will dance and swerve its tail. But if you don't have anything to offer to it, it won’t even recognize your arrival; such are the attributes of fake people in our lives.” I opened my eyes very wide and looked him in the eyes and said:

“Thabang what’s up with you? What you do you mean by all that nonsense? Calling me names…! Do you even understand what you saying? Please note that i am no longer part of your life, “so”, help yourself and move on with your life, you had been unfaithful to me the whole time and you didn't meet all the quality set standards I have set for myself, so chill or else I will stop talking to you in the next occasion we meet because I cannot afford to listen to all this nonsense your rising on. How could you compare me to a dog out of all this things? I left you because you cheated on me several times and the fact that you are not circumcised and I couldn't allow that ugly shrink socks of yours enter my private part, this is not a public part where everybody plays on it and get away, Thabang just leave me the hell alone and continue living your life, you multi charger, aids will catch you.” I referred to him as multi charger because he goes around sleeping with every girl and you know multi charger can work on most of the batteries.

Sweetness and kholo couldn’t help it at that moment and began to laugh hilariously at Thabang because they found him very amusing and he seemed to be a bit embarrassed by the time, but he continued shamelessly and said “Mahlatse this days because you found a job, that Mr Tokollo, (Thabang referred to dating Tokollo as a job for me that I'm getting remunerated to do.) You have changed so much Mahlatse, lucky Dube was right when he sang a song that says “money makes the world go round and you can't find love without a dollar” “you just don't love me because I'm poor and I don't have any income or a fat bank account. I looked him in the eyes and said “Thabang do you know what? Good bye, I granted you an opportunity to have me as your future wife and you took it for granted. Time wasted never regain, just chill and you will get another me or somebody who is even much better than me”.

Thabang left in confusion with his long ugly face when he is angry. Me and the girls continued with our journey to sweetness‘s crib. Before we could even arrive there, when we were nearing the gate to sweetness‘s place kholo said in shock “girls, girls, girls…! Do you see what’s coming towards us, I foresee danger here, that guy who is coming closer to us is Bongani, the dagga Guy.” before Kholo could even finish with what she was telling, Bongani arrived at our destination and he opened his big mouth. “Hey guys”, Bongani shouted and greeted us in a friendly manner but his breath smelled horrible from all the dagga that he smoked, he had a very dark skin complexion and lastly, his eyes were bloodshot, very red indeed.

“So”, Bongani said in excitement that, “Girls when are we playing the skunk games once again when you are free, I hope it can be soon, I miss spending time with you guys on a joint of skunk, (skunk he referred to the dagga straight from  Germany )“Germanskunk”. That was Bongani‘s suggestion and I replied in weariness and said “We no longer doing such ugly things, beside our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit, who is in us, whom we have received from God himself.” Bongani looked at me with an angry face and said “you are always the problem Mahlatse that is why I dislike you at some point, the problem with you is being stereotype which will bring trouble in trouser one day, Limpopo girls are just like monkeys. Let me go to my crib before I get angry. Kholo if you need some medication just give me a ring” Bongani referred to skunk as medicine.”

Bongani left and without any waste of time I and kholo made our way back to the flat because sweetness was almost at her apartment.

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***

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 67

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 67

  04:31   2 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Girls talk

Chapter 67
7:30 when we arrived at McDonald's Sunnyside for my meeting with Mr Pillay and Mooketsi.Tokollo dropped me off and went back to his crib in Brooklyn. As I was standing outside about to go inside I heard my phone ringing, it was Mooketsi who had called me using Aunt Merriam’s cell phone because he didn't have one by the time, “Mahlatse I don't think I'll make it to the meeting, my little sister is very ill, she’s got tonsils. I believe it's the weather change, because she's crying endlessly. She can hardly even talk because her voice is sore. Can't we postpone the meeting for later today or tomorrow when we are back from the clinic and I believe she might be feeling better by then, right now it would be too risky to let her go to the clinic alone”. Mooketsi said to me “ok well Mooketsi I will explain to Mr Pillay & I hope your sister will get well soon and pass my greetings to auntie Merriam” .I said to him and the phone call braked because of the network coverage that day, it was really bad. I went inside to look for Mr Pillay who was not currently at work, I guess he was still in McDonald’s arcadia because he runs both side. I waited for him for a while and when he arrived I explained what Mooketsi had told me to Mr Pillay, Basically I passed the message in detail. “Ok well Mahlatse, no problem just come anytime you free as long as I am in the office” Mr Pillay said to me.

When I made my way to the flat I came across sweetness Kholo‘s friend who happened to be my friend too, she was on her way to my flat to fetch something from Kholo. On our way we met this guy who looked like his life depended on Nyaope. He approached us and asked for sweetness's number, promising her the world “lol” he offered to take her to the cinema for a movie this afternoon but she ignored him. He had the worst smell, let's not even speak about how dirty he looked. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't know that water can also be used for cleaning one's body and clothes, we still have those people who think water is just for drinking. He wouldn't give up, he kept following us saying useless things which were pretty obvious such as “I might be broke with no cars to impress you and win your attention but I have a healthy Dick, its Hiv free and all yours. I'm still fresh and innocent AKA a virgin”. Sweetness burst with laughter and we just kept walking ignoring him. But hey the guy was persistent. He continued talking about her sexy body. Sweetness still paid him no attention. He was getting annoyed now and started being nasty and said “I don’t think you even know a door of a gym, the reason you have a sexy body is because you always run after guys with cars and money, aids will catch you and kill you. Most girls like you are always heartbroken because they go for this guys who keep on hurting them, by the name of cheese boys”.

We got to the flat and we were starving by now and when I wanted to make breakfast, there was no bread. I then decided to make jungle oats for us, going to the shop to buy bread was not an option I was lazy. “Sweetness what are you doing here so early in the morning?” Kholo asked. “I came to get my calculator; I'm in need of it. I'm not even staying for long because I need to get back to the flat and use it, besides that I've missed you so much girlfriend it's been a minute hey” said sweetness. “Aah chomi I'm happy you came, we have so much to catch up on” Kholo replied leaning in to give sweetness a kiss on the cheek then she asked if she could have some oats and I said “no problem help yourself”. We were in a happy place enjoying the oats then suddenly it started raining again outside and this time it was raining cats and dogs. Sweetness said to me “Mahlatse you know sometimes it's annoying when you are told you are beautiful especially by a stranger, truth is we know it already hence we have mirrors. Guys can be pretty lame sometimes man. They need to up their game and come with better ways to approach and win our attention”. Just imagine a nigga comes to you and say “Lady you are attractive and smart" oooohhhhhh now that I'd so much appreciate, it's a total turn on.……mmm..!!!”. We all laughed and agreed that guys should find another method.

“Girls I understand the point sweetness is raising but sometimes we don’t have to avoid people just like that because you’ll never know what the future holds. The person you are avoiding or ignoring might be your interviewer one day for a vacant you have applied for and if you have been rude, he might sabotage your application. So we shouldn’t look down at other people because of their present situation, because sometimes the people we look down at Might be the ones we look up to tomorrow. I understand that people set their own standards but we should treat people right at all times, being good is not a crime and God will shower you with his blessings for that. No one can predict tomorrow”……Said Mahlatse.

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 66

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 66

  11:06   2 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Ungrateful homeless man 

Chapter 66

It was 6:15 in the morning when I woke up. I dragged my feet to the sitting room window to look through it and it was still dark outside and I noticed that it was drizzling too, And I could only think of the bible when it was said that the sun set and darkness came when Jesus was crucified and I looked up and said a little prayer “your Grace is ever sufficient my Lord, Thank you God for the rain and for giving your one and only son to die for our sins and paying for life's debts on the cross your love is amazing, stay with me all day every day for the rest of my life” ...I then dragged my feet to the bathroom to take a bath and titivate myself to go meet Mr. Pillar and Mooketsi.  I came across Tokollo who just came from the bedroom and he held my hand tight and pulled me closer to his chest holding me closer and looking me in the eyes and said “Mahlatse please forgive me babe, I love you so much and I didn't mean any of the things I said last night. I take everything back and I swear it will never happen again, I don't know what came over me”...I pulled back and said “I need to be somewhere Tokollo and right now I have a lot on my mind so let's talk later just not now or I'll be late for my 8am meeting and I can't afford that”. I hear you Mahlatse I'll be waiting for you when you are done taking care of your staff then we can continue this talk, just as long as you forgive me please.  He said this while letting me go.

As I walked away from him he asked me if he could walk me...I could see from the lines of his face how sorry he really was and I said its fine.  He asked me to give him two minutes to quickly go brush his teeth and to wash his face. I nodded and waited for him in the sitting room. He was done in less than 20 seconds so I giggled and teased him a little saying he broke the record of the fastest man in South Africa then we shared a laugh and he unlocked the door and held it posing the gentleman gesture and changed his accent to a British accent and said “after you madam” I laughed out loud and also copied the accent and said "well thank you sir "as I walked out and he followed and we both laughed and left. There tension was still there but At least we shed it off a little with our silly games.  We walked hand in hand till we got to Steers in Brooklyn and we went inside to buy a meal. We didn't want their breakfast specials we were very hungry so I ordered their double rack ribs meal and Tokollo ordered double patty burger lol this guy loves his big mac.

We waited for our order for about 15 minutes and we left. We didn't really have much to say to each other since the tension was still there but no love was lost. As we walked back to the apartment to get the car I noticed a homeless guy who looked like he could be in his 30s on the side of the road. We walked past him but he begged us to give him food or any amount we have so that he can buy food. I looked at him and I saw hunger written all over his face. He looked like he hadn't eaten a month.  I know how it feels like to be hungry and for a moment I put myself in his shoes and I walked towards him and gave him my meal. I expected him to dig in right away but he just said thanks CC and put the food away in his dirty sack that looked like it had rotten food inside.  He continued begging for more from people and ignored my presence.  The nerve of this man yoh I got very upset from this scenario and walked to Tokollo who was waiting for me and he could see how upset I was and he tried to calm me down. We finally got in the car and I sat there.

 Quietly, that’s how angry I was. Sweet Tokollo asked if he could get me another meal and I shook my head and told him I'd be late if we go. He offered to go for a drive thru when we get to Sunnyside and I still said no. I saw how bad he was feeling and told him I'm ok. He offered me his burger and I told him I had lost my appetite. He then apologised as if it was his fault and I gave him a kiss on the cheek just to assure him that it wasn't him I'm angry at. I saw him smile and he said “shall we” and I said hoi hoi captain and he drove off and we laughed. He always manages to put a smile on my face even at my angriest.The only thing he could do for me to make this relationship work is to be faithful like me because we women who doesn't cheat investigate better that FBI.

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 65

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 65

  03:52   No comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Life its ugly at some point

Chapter 65

10pm when we arrive at Tokollo’s apartment in Brooklyn, The kitchen was dirty and the smell was like sulfur that is explained in the bible. It was obvious the kitchen hadn't been cleaned in a while; the dirty pots on the stove and in the zinc smelled so bad that I even got a mild headache from it. While I was cleaning Tokollo started again with the nonsense of trying to get lucky with me. He grabbed my boobs and wanted to get his hand in my cookie jar and I got furious as I didn't want any of that. The mood was totally wrong for his games and I couldn't make an acception due to the unpleasant conversation we had in the car earlier, Before a minute could even pass I made it clear to him and said; “Tokollo I am not in the mood for things like that and again, I am on my periods, so please play far away from me and let me finish with what I am doing. Don’t you have some games on your cell phone to play with?”

Tokollo was not pleased with the way I responded to his attempts but he had no choice, only to stay far away from me up until I finish with the cleanings. There is a rumor around south Africa that says “Limpopians woman don’t take shit and they can be violent if you push them” I think Tokollo is one of those guys who are scared of being moered by Limpopian women so he thought he had to stop trying his luck or things will get ugly. Fortunately I'm not like most Limpopo ladies who tend to use violence as the answer when things are not going their way. A few minutes later when my cleaning part was nearing the end, Tokollo brought wine glasses in the kitchen with 1.5 litre of fourth street wine. It then hit me that Tokollo might get drunk and start behaving like a retard so I decided to go easy on him and just join him even though I'm still mad at him so that when we get drunk we will be in the same state of mind cos if I don't drink he will be more annoying and I'll get even angrier at him.

When I was done cleaning, I went to put my bag in the bedroom and also to wear a tampon to make sure I have all the right to deny Tokollo sex but the truth is I wasn't even on my periods it was just a strategy to make sure he doesn’t get it (pu**y) that night because he seemed to be cheating which gives me reasons not to engage myself in a sexual intercourse with him. When I was done in the bed room I went to the living room to join Tokollo on a bottle of wine and nice cool jams. Tokollo seemed to be tipsy by the time and I was still sober because I only had half a class of wine. “Mahlatse Why do you hate me so much that you denying me, your future husband some intimacy?” Tokollo asked “I have the right to say no to things that pisses me off.” I replied. “Mahlatse what is it that got in your nerves because you are now acting like the rural girl that you are in the city who can't even decide what she wants nor know what she wants, baby I’m really horny and I want some” Tokollo said to me. “Are you out of your mind Tokollo? Do you think even if I wanted to sleep with you I could after what you just said about me being a rural girl, I think you need to date somebody from urban areas not a rural girl like me, you don’t deserve me and your Behaving like a 50 year old man trapped in a boy' body. I'm on periods and I'm just not in the mood. This is my property and if I don’t want there is nothing you can do, you don’t have respect for women. You don't even respect women. “Could you please kindly take me to my flat” I said to him while he stood up and went to the bathroom.

Without any waste of time I took out my phone and called Kholo to inform her that I will be Coming back to the flat soon so that she doesn't sleep or sleep lightly because I didn’t have the tag for the main gate with me. Kholo extremely laughed at me and asked me And asked me what changed my mind because when I left I told them I'll be coming back the next day. I simply told her that I will explain everything when I get there because my mind was full of Tokollo’s windy things that he does. That was one of my worst days with this Sotho guy. “Hlatse are you sure you want to go to your flat right now” Tokollo asked “yes I want to go to my flat because there is nothing valuable I am doing here and it Feels like I had you for supper and now I feel like I could just throw up so” I went to the bedroom to fetch my bag”. when I came back from the bed room Tokollo said “I’m not going to Sunnyside, I am lazy to drive unless you don’t mind walking to your place” “ok well Tokollo where is the keys for the door?” I asked “You should be asking yourself that question because you are the one who unlocked the door when we came in’'Tokollo said

“Ok well I will sleep here On the couch and I will leave in the morning and please don’t touch me, if you try to do something stupid we will fight and I will Report you to the police that you attempted to rape me idiot” I said to him. Tokollo forcefully touched my breast and I Screamed extremely loud and slapped and him on the face and at the same time pushed him down from me and he ran to the store room and came back with a machete. It was the first time I've ever slapped anyone, maybe it was because I had few glasses of wine by then. Tokollo tried all his tricks to scare me but I wasn't feeling scared or intimidated by him so I slapped him again. …………

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 64

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 64

  03:29   3 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Chaos between Tokollo and Mahlatse

Chapter 64

Without any waste of time I went straight to my bedroom, took my bag and then we left to Tokollo’s place in Brooklyn. On our way to Brooklyn we had arguments in the car because Tokollo couldn’t give me proper reasons as to why his phone was off. I had been wondering if Tokollo heard the conversation I had with girls, but he seemed to have not heard .while he was busy driving his Mercedes Benz (AMG), others call it “all my money gone”; to Brooklyn I looked at his cell phone as if I was checking the time on it, only to find out that his cell phone battery life was at 75 percent, which further confirms that his cell phone was never dead. “Tokollo can you please be honest with me and explain to me why your cell phone was off, because honestly speaking I really don’t get it.” I asked him while he threw me an icy look with those small brown eyes of his and said: “Baby I already told you it was a network failure, that is the only truth and why are you making it a big issue, it’s not like I didn't make it to come fetch you at your place, I love you so much Mahlatse and I will never make any intentions to hurt you.”

A couple of minutes later before we could arrive at his place in Brooklyn, I then decided to ask him to unlock his cell phone so that I send some of our old pictures we took at Union building some time back via Bluetooth. That was the only way I could gain access to his cell phone because I was not satisfied with his answers and I felt a need to check his cellphone if there is anything funny that he is doing. Tokollo didn’t have any problem with me gaining access to his cellphone that day provided if I would not mind his old pictures of his ex-girlfriends that he still have to clear them off and he claimed he never had time to delete them from his device due to his businesses commitments. “Since I am still driving my unlock code is 79928.”Tokollo said to me and then I successfully managed to unlock his cell phone and went straight to the picture folders.

“Tokollo when are you going to clear this pictures off your device because they are disgusting and I don’t see a point of keeping them  if you are really done with our ex-girlfriends? If I may ask you again, why is your cell-phone on airplane mode? Are you trying to ignore someone’s incoming texts or calls?” I said to him, and without any waste of time I switched his cell phone from airplane mode to normal. By that time I began to get very crossed with him, Tokollo my nigga who seemed to be disloyal but generous indeed. “Mahlatse I was not aware that my cell phone is on Flight mode, I might have pressed that flight tab by mistake, I am really sorry about that and I assure you that the pictures will be cleared today as a matter of priority. Can you please refrain from checking out my cell phone in future to avoid unnecessary conflicts” Tokollo said to me while incoming texts began to come through his cell phone, a lot of  whats-up massages came in like rainy days during summer times.

When Tokollo heard his phone beeping he didn’t waste any time, he crabbed my hand aggressively, took his cell phone off my hand and put it away from me. I only managed to see one massage that came through from a contact saved as “Wa-Kapa” but I never had a chance to see the details of the text. I then concluded that Tokollo is cheating on me. I went into deep thinking with myself; Tokollo was in cape town for his business trip and the next thing he saved somebody‘s contacts as “Wa-Kapa” and cape town is nicknamed “Kapa” from some of the south African racial groups. I got very angry with Tokollo within a short space of time, and at the same time thought as much that Tokollo got involved with somebody in Cape Town. I wanted to slap him on his face, but I couldn’t because it clipped up in my mind that Tokollo had a very fat bank account and that I am not that beautiful like the girls He had been dating even thou I have a very nice a*s. I then decided to calm down and look for plan B because I was definitely sure that Tokollo doesn’t know what he wants and his (D) controls his mind. It didn’t worth it to continue arguing with him because I could predict that I am the one who is going to get hurt but I was glad that I had seen the highlights about Tokollo being controlled by a (D).

“Baby sometimes in a relationship we need to speak out if we have any problems rather than keeping them to ourselves. If you hold on to something which is bothering you inside it will automatically make you unhappy, so it’s better to talk about it so that it can be resolved however we should also respect each other’s privacy. This thing of checking my phone should end right here” Tokollo said to me while we arrived at his place. I acted as if I understand and as if I am all ok, but honestly speaking I was not happy at all. “Ok love I get your point but if there is anything you doing that you would not like me to do please stop it for the sake of my feelings, Tokollo I don’t want to share you as much as you don’t want to share me if I am not wrong. I love you with all of my heart.” I said to him and deep down in my heart I knew very well that i was not happy at all…..

“If Tokollo want to play me its ok provided that I also play in his fat bank account, because I cannot afford to lose him now” I thought to myself.

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 63

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 63

  06:18   4 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Tokollo’s surprise visit

Chapter 63

It was on Friday after school when I arrived at the flat, around passed 4 o’clock expecting a call from Moeketsi so that I can tell him about our appointment with Mr Pillay the following day on Saturday at 8:30 at McDonald’s Sunnyside .Time went and the night grew old without receiving any call from Moeketsi as I expected. There was no way I could reach him because he didn’t own a Meer cell phone. The only option to get hold of him was to physically go to his place in Atteridgevill Lotus Gardens. I began to worry much about Moeketsi and also thinking he might be somewhere trying to rob people like he had been doing previously. At around 8 o’clock in the evening I received a call from a private number, before I could answer the call I was definitely sure that is Moeketsi who was calling. “Hello” I answered and it was Tokollo who had called me. “Baby I really miss you so much and I want us to have some quality time at my place tonight since it had been a while we have been together due to my business commitments” Tokollo said to me. “Ok baby you will let me know when you coming over to fetch me and please don’t take much of your time to get here because tomorrow morning I have an appointment to attend to and as a result I will have to leave your place very early in the morning.” I said to him, immediately after the last word I said “morning” his phone braked on the network. When I attempted to call him back his phone was on voice mail, I then decided to be patient and waited for him to get back to me, it is now two important people I’m expecting calls from.

As I was busy thinking about Moeketsi and his siblings, 20 minutes later I received a second call from a land line number, it was Moeketsi who had called me, by that time I was already in a bathtub fixing myself and getting ready for Tokollo whom I’m not sure if he was going to make it to my place to fetch me because it was very strange that his phone braked and he didn’t make any means of contacting me even though he had two cell phones and I didn’t have his other number, I had been very ignorant to save them on my device. Honestly speaking I wanted all of him that night because it had been a while since he left for his business trip. “Mahlatse I only paid two rand's for the phone i am calling you from which will last us for one hundred and twenty seconds, it’s a public phone and fortunately they close late on Fridays and weekends which better sweet some of us who like hanging around overnight”. Moeketsi said to me “Ok well Moeketsi, we are meeting with Mr Pillay tomorrow morning at 8:30, He is a branch manager at McDonald’s Sunnyside, He will hook up you with a job to sustain you and your siblings but you will only work on weekends provided that you go back to school for security reasons. Be on time and I will also try to talk to the social workers if they can offer you guy’s social grants for orphans since you don’t have both parents or somebody who is looking after your family”. I said to Moeketsi. “Mahlatse I will be on time tomorrow and thanks for your effort and again for bailing me out of the police station, my minutes are almost depleted, and I will meet you tomorrow on time there, bye” Moeketsi said as he hanged up the phone.

I attempted to call Tokollo several times after I was done with Moeketsi and his cell phone took me straight to voicemail. The capacity of my worrying began to grow big and bigger, I tried by all means to ignore this feeling of getting annoyed by Tokollo but that didn’t help at all. When I was done bathing I went to the living room to join the girls, we were watching a movie by Leon Schuster; panic mechanic. “Mahlatse why do you look sad, is everything ok?” Tsakane asked. “I’m ok my friend is just that Sometimes we get swallowed like the man Jonah from the bible because we are going to the wrong direction with the wrong people. God wanted him Jonah to go to Niniveh, he choose to go to Tarshish. I think I have to check and review my directions with Tokollo. I am no longer sure if my relationship with Tokollo is enabling or disabling me, maybe it is time to let go of relationships that are not serving me positive. 

The truth is; nothing will change until you change. Nothing will improve unless you improve. Nothing will be renewed unless you renew your mind. I have been in the wilderness for too long. Today I want to make a decision to move on. Tokollo hanged up the phone whilst we were busy on the line and he switched off his phone and I was supposed to spend a night at his place today” I said to the girls, and there was a moment of silent and this other guy in the movie we were watching chipped a tooth and farted at the same time, instead of us laughing there was a knock at the door, without any waste of time I went to check out who was knocking with a thought that it might be Tokollo. When I opened the door it was Tokollo and he seemed to have heard all that I shared with the girls, I nodded. “Hey baby” Tokollo exclaimed…………

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 62

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 62

  15:35   2 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Matome's girlfriend giving birth 

Chapter 62

In the morning around five O'clock when I was preparing for my early classes I received a call from my younger Brother Matome, “Sister, the girl I had impregnated just gave birth to a baby boy this morning, I really don't know what is going to happen to the baby since his parents are both not working and I am no longer dating her mother Mohlago (my ex-girlfriend ) for some reasons and her parents are not financially doing well however I am ready to take full responsibility for my boy but the thing is; I am not working and I am thinking of quitting school and go work for my boy”, Said Matome. “Oh poor Matome I hear you, the damage is already done and there is no way to change it but I will try and come up with the best solutions for your case, living school for that reason is not going to happen as long as I am still your sister, I will see how we can support your baby and there is also Government grant which will also assist at some point as an alternative.” I said to him. “Mahlatse I really thank you for being there for me, what I had done is a bad thing at the age of 15 but one day this terrible thing will be a Good testimony to tell, I promise you to be a better person from now on and thanks again for ensuring that I am not going to quit school to work for the child. I am overwhelmed by the way u treat me and the way you care about me sister, my airtime is almost finished I believe will talk later this afternoon because I have to get ready for school.” Matome said to me. “OK well will talk later, even if we can tell our close relatives about this matter i don't think they are going to help anyhow, like they never supported us financially in any case, Good bye Matome” I said to him.

When I made my way to the kitchen to make my favourite breakfast I came across Kholo who had been very wasted by alcohol the previous day when I last saw her and she seemed to be drunk still, “Good morning Kholo aren't you supposed to be sleeping by now because you slept two or three hours ago?, I can see you got hang over, but no your still drunk my friend anyway how was it at Europa groove lounge last night because you very excited about going there yesterday when I last saw you” I asked. “It was happening in there Mahlatse, black coffee was rocking the stage and we had so much fun even though I feel like I didn’t have enough, because they closed at 2:00 am, I feel they should review their licence so that the closing time can be prolonged to at least 5:00 am. anyway let me just have some few classes of water and go back to rest” Kholo said. “Oh, that will best sweet those of you who prefer to party the whole night, but I think that will be bad for most people because they will never have enough time to rest for at least 8 hours as recommended by the doctors and for students because they will miss their classes more often since Europa operate seven days a week which is every day. I think two o’clock is much better even though it will still impact negatively on other people who doesn’t have a backbone, can you please make a way to your room to rest before you fall into my breakfast.” I said to Kholo while I dished up my cereal and went to the living room a couple of minutes later to eat my breakfast.

While I was busy eating, Matome’s issue kept on ringing in my mind to a point where I couldn’t ignore it anymore, After some few minutes I realised that Matome is my full responsibility now and I have to act as a parent to him since I am the elder one in the family, All of our parents had passed away as well as granny who looked after us lately. After eating my breakfast I decided to go to my room to tell God about Matome's situation that i am involved and affected, so that God almighty can take control over it even thou God knew this matter before us, sometimes God wait for us to tell him staff so that he can act on our position. After my short conversation with God I felt very relieved and desired more and more of my time with Him, unfortunately I couldn’t have much time to spend with Him that moment because I had early classes to attend to. Before I could take my school bag and get on my way to school I decided to text Matome. “Matome please make sure you go to school regularly and stop stressing about your situation because you made our parents and granny happy where ever they are, it is a blessing to have a new member in the family since it’s just me and you at our home. Everything is going to be ok I promise you.” I texted him.

I took my school staff and made my way to school, when I arrived in Arcadia where i catch a bus to main campus, where i attend my classes I came across Thabang who had bought me a very nice necklace. “Hello Mahlatse I missed you so much that is why I even bought you this present.” Thabang said to me. “Thanks for the necklace Thabang, it looks beautiful and I love it not you, Can you please excuse me for today, I really need to think about something very important, hope you don’t find me rude and i am just having things to sort out.” I said while I got into a different bus to the one Thabang took. “Ok well Mahlatse I will wait for you up until you’re ready to talk to me” Thabang said to me.

I thought Thabang will take back the necklace after the way I spoke to him, I think he didn’t take it because it was not that expensive and I had to believe my thoughts about Thabang that he is only doing all this to get what he missed when he had the opportunity.

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Diary of a rural girl Chapter 61

Diary of a rural girl Chapter 61

  02:51   1 comment:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Girls chat over a bottle of wine

Chapter 61

When I arrived at the flat, it was around 4:45 in the afternoon. I found Kholo and Tsakane enjoying a bottle of four cousins over deep house music at the flat. “Hello girls”, I greeted them and went straight to my room to change my clothes and when I was done I went to the bath room took a very long bath, and when i was done i went to the sitting room to join the girls over a bottle of wine. After having two classes of wine I said to the girls, “We are worse, drinking during the course of the week…! But the wine is very nice however we should refrain from drinking during the week to avoid unnecessary outcomes”. “As for me; I want to finish all the alcohols in this world before I could even think of making babies so that when they arrive on earth they would find alcohol finished”, Kholo said as she began to get more and more tipsy and the music was too deep to a point where it can increase your level of drunkenness.

Before we could pour some more wine into our classes we had a knock at the door, it was sweetness who had just visited us without any notice. “Hello my lovely friends it had been a while since we have not been seeing each other”, sweetness said as she made her way to the kitchen to get an empty class to pour some wine. “How have you been? I hope you had been all good my friend, I missed you so much, but next time when you visit you better let us know to ensure we are available because in a healthy friendship it is very important for all parties to still do their own things as a vital matter and Sometimes friends need time apart, please don’t find it rude it’s just the matter of building each other to a better friendship”, Kholo said. “Ok well the ear doesn’t have a coverage, I appreciate your words of wisdom Kholo as for now let’s focus on drinking and discussing on getting some more wine because the bottle is almost finished”, Sweetness said.

“Gosh”, I exclaimed, “do you really think we should get some more wine, don’t you get it that is during the week and some of us got some school work to do, if it was on weekends it would make sense however you can go get some if you think it’s necessary but I want to take a nap around 7 o’clock and wake up around 10 o’clock to do my school work because the first day I packed my bags to Pretoria the intention was to further my studies, so I treat my school work as a priority this days. “OK well hlatse girl, as for myself I’m in the mood for turning up tonight, maybe we should do Europa because I saw on the notice board yesterday by Essellen street that black coffee will be playing there tonight and there is a special of red squares, each for ten rand”, Kholo said while she made her way to her bedroom to get some cigarettes to smoke because all the Girls couldn’t ignore the nicotine cravings while drinking. “Girls I also side with the idea of getting wasted at Europa club, it had been a while since we have not been going out together and the other interesting part about it is the special of our favorite drink and our legend Mr coffee” ,Tsakane said. “I also agree girls, let’s make a happy life for ourselves and enjoy this life, tonight we turning up” sweetness said.

I normally do what the girls are doing without even thinking, but that day I couldn’t because I had school work to do and a choice. Being around Gauteng had taught me a lot about life and gave me more of experience about life and now I know when to say no and to priorities. The bottle of wine got finished and the girls went to Shoprite checkers in Sunnyside to buy another bottle of wine while I made my way to the bedroom to take a nap because it was around 7 o’clock, the time I agreed with the girls to take a nap. When I got to the bedroom I received a romantic text massage from Tokollo, when I was about to read it, I received a call from a stranger; “hello Mahlatse, it’s me Denny from Facebook, I got your contacts from your Facebook Profile and I want to be your lover”, the stranger said. “I have got enough lovers so take your love and give it to somebody else not me and never call me again” I said while I hanged up the call, that was the day I decided to remove my personal contacts from my Facebook profile.

I replied the text message from Tokollo and texted “thanks” and then called my little brother Thabang to check up on him and  slept.

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Diary of a rural girl chapter 60

Diary of a rural girl chapter 60

  23:30   4 comments:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Moeketsi’s beam of hope

Chapter 60

When I arrived at the flat, it had just passed 5 o’clock. I found Kholo sleeping in her bedroom; she loved her afternoon naps. I didn’t want to wake her up even though I wanted to share with her what I had done for Moeketsi, ‘the Brooklyn thief’. I went to take a long hot bath as I was tired from all the walking-around I had been doing the whole day. When I was done bathing, Kholo woke up and joined me in my bedroom. “Hey girl”, she greeted me. “Hello Kholo. How was your nap? I didn’t want to wake you up when I saw you sleeping”, I said to her. “I am good, girlfriend; I was just resting for my first day at school tomorrow”, Kholo said.

Before we went to bed, I told Kholo all about Moeketsi and instead of being shocked or surprised, she seemed to be understanding and rather proud of me. I went to bed and just as quickly as I fell asleep, the night went by just as quickly. When the alarm went off at 05h30, I bathed and made my way to the bus stop. I walked just past Thabang, who was again in front at the queue. “Hey Mahlatse,” Thabang said, “I saved you a spot again”. I ignored him and decided to go to the back of the queue as it was not as long as the previous day’s. Of course Thabang tried to get my attention by calling me by name some more however I decided to put headsets in my ears to listen to my gospel music instead. I got into the first bus that stopped at the bus stop and whilst I was in the bus, I was thinking a lot about Moeketsi and his siblings. I then decided to send Mr Pillay a message on his cellphone, asking if I could see him later in the day.

I normally switched my cellphone off whenever I went to attend my classes however on this day; I decided to set it on silent mode so that if Mr Pillay or Moeketsi tried to get hold of me, they wouldn’t find cellphone off. Immediately after my last class, which was from 1 o’clock to 2 o’clock, I checked my cellphone and noticed that Mr Pillay had agreed to see me at half past 3. I made my to McDonald’s Sunnyside as fast as I could and I must say, it was quite a joyous experience meeting old friends there. I was even treated to a free meal whilst I was waiting for Mr Pillay who was in his new McDonald’s restaurant in Hamilton Street in Arcadia.

Mr Pillay arrived at McDonald’s Sunnyside just after 3 and immediately asked me to follow him to his office. “Mahlatse! What a pleasant surprise! What can I do for you today, my dear?” Mr Pillay began the conversation as we sat down in his office. “I have been fine, sir”, I said, “but…” “But what? I am listening”, Mr Pillay said. “I need to ask you a big favour, sir”, I said. Mr Pillay, who was sitting back on his leather chair in the office, leaned forward and said, “I am all ears”. I told him all about Moeketsi and how I had gotten to know him. When I was done telling him about Moeketsi’s sad life, I said, “I don’t know sir if it would be possible to let Moeketsi work in the kitchen as the dishwasher in your new Hamilton restaurant”.

“Shew”, Mr Pillay exclaimed, “that’s quite a raw deal he got, hey; especially for a boy his age”. “I know sir, which is why I have come to you; I can only do so much to help him but afterwards, what will happen to them?” “Miss Mokwena”, Mr Pillay said, “As much as I would like to help, I can’t because of the law that prohibits us from having child labourers”. I begged Mr Pillay and after what appeared to have been over twenty minutes of my begging him, Mr Pillay finally succumbed to my pleas. “Okay, Mahlatse”, he said, “The best I can do is to allow Moeketsi to come and help out in the restaurant on weekends, on condition that he goes back to school. By so doing, I am staying within the boundaries of the law; I don’t want my trading licence to get revoked, you know”. I got up and jumped and down in joy and said, “Thank you very much, Mr Pillay, I promise you, you won’t regret this”. “Good”, Mr Pillay said, “Ask him to come see me this coming Saturday at 08h30 sharp. Please Miss Mokwena, let this be the first and the last time you ask of such a favour from me; I am running a profit-generating business here and not a charity organisation”. “I will never ever do this again, sir, I promise”, I said as I left the office in high spirits.

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Diary of a rural girl chapter 59

Diary of a rural girl chapter 59

  12:25   1 comment:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Auntie Mirriam

Chapter 59

Moeketsi and I got on to a taxi to town where we caught a second taxi to Lotus Gardens in Atteridgeville. We got off the taxi on the main road and walked a few blocks down the street to an RDP house. “This is where I stay”, Moeketsi said to me as we entered the dusty yard. “Refilwe! Thuso!” Moeketsi called out for his siblings as we entered the house. My heart broke when I saw the inside of the house. This was a government-sponsored RDP house still in its original state; the walls were unpainted, the floor was neither tiled nor polished and the whole house was anything but clean. There was one paraffin-stove over an old kitchen table with one rattley, wooden chair next to this table. Moeketsi went to the only bedroom of the house, looking for his siblings.  

“Oh my God! Oh my God! They’re not here; Mahlatse, my siblings are not here!” Moeketsi came out of the room shouting, with tears in his eyes. I didn’t know what to say to him; I was just as shocked as he was. Moeketsi ran out of the house and began calling out for his siblings by their names, as if they would just come out of their hiding places after playing a game of hide-and-seek. A woman, in her early-40s, came out of the house opposite that of Moeketsi’s. “Relax Moeketsi”, the lady said, “Your brother and sister are here with me; they spent the past two days here after I got worried when you didn’t come home on Saturday. I have been taking good care of them”. “Thank you, auntie Mirriam”, Moeketsi said while wiping tears from his eyes, “Thank you so much; I was worried sick about them”.

“Who’s your friend?” auntie Mirriam said with a smile, looking at me. “Auntie Mirriam, this is Mahlatse and she’s a God-sent angel”, Moeketsi said, “I was arrested in Brooklyn and she came to bail me out”. Auntie Mirriam looked at Moeketsi with disappointed eyes and said, “Please Moeketsi, don’t tell me you went stealing again”. Moeketsi said nothing and only nodded by head. “You poor thing, what happened to your face? Moeketsi, I told you many times that if you ever need anything, uncle Freddy and I will try by all means to help you out”, auntie Mirriam said. Moeketsi looked at her and said, “I know, auntie Mirriam, but you know how I feel about that. Besides, I know that you also have your own children to raise and I didn’t want us to become another burden in your household”. “Nonsense!” auntie Mirriam said, “Anyway, you guys come inside; I’ll fix you something to eat”.

We entered the house and auntie Mirriam’s house was a major improvement over that of Moeketsi’s. The house was extended with two or three rooms and was well-furnished. On the walls, were portraits of auntie Mirriam and a man, whom I took as her husband, uncle Freddy. The portraits were those of their wedding day as well as those of two children, who were obviously theirs. “Wow, auntie Mirriam”, I said, “You have a beautiful house”. “Thank you, Mahlatse”, auntie Mirriam said as she walked to the kitchen. Moeketsi and I were sitting on the same sofa when two children came into the dining room running in joy towards Moeketsi, as if seeing him for the first time in ages. “Hey guys”, Moeketsi said, while hugging them. I am sorry I didn’t come back the other day, I went to Father Christmas’s house to tell him that this year he must bring you, Thuso, a toy fire engine truck and you, Refilwe, that Barbie Princess doll that you saw and wished for one day in that Pick n Pay catalogue. He told me that he will do so”. I saw the children’s faces light up when he told them the silly little lies we normally tell small children.

Auntie Mirriam returned a few minutes later with plates of food. She had prepared us sandwiches of eggs, grated cheese and fried red viennas. “Thank you”, Moeketsi and I said at the same time. After we had eaten, I told auntie Mirriam and Moeketsi that I was leaving as I had early classes the following day. As they were walking me to the main road, where I would be catching a taxi back to town, I took out the last R100 banknote that I had on me and handed it to Moeketsi. “I know it’s not much but you can buy bread for the next few days with it”, I said to Moeketsi. “I can’t accept it, Mahlatse, not after all you’ve done for me”. I insisted that Moeketsi take the money and auntie Mirriam also advised him to take it. Succumbing to pressure, Moeketsi finally took the money.

When we got to the main road, I stopped one of the taxis and took out a piece of paper, where I had already written my cellphone numbers on it. “You can call me anytime, you hear Moeketsi, anytime”, I said to Moeketsi, while handing him the piece of paper. Auntie Mirriam also expressed her heartfelt gratitude to me and also promised me to help Moeketsi and her siblings as best as she could. I gave Moeketsi one last hug and then got into the taxi. As the taxi pulled away, I shouted through one of its opened windows and said, “You will hear from me soon, Moeketsi, I promise”.

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Diary of a rural girl chapter 58

Diary of a rural girl chapter 58

  12:43   1 comment:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Thabang’s attempt at getting back with Mahlatse

Chapter 58

On Monday morning I found the longest queue I had ever seen at the Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT) Arcadia campus where students could catch a bus to TUT’s main campus in Pretoria West. “Hey Mahlatse, I saved you a place, as we agreed this morning”, Thabang said as he winked at me. Thabang was about fifteenth in line on a queue of about a hundred students. Even though I was still angry with him, I had no choice but to go to him as I did not want to go to the back of the line and catch a bus three hours later. “Hello Thabang”, I greeted, “Thanks, you saved me all that waiting in the queue. So, what happened? Why is the queue so long this morning?” “I don’t know, hey”, Thabang answered, “I think it has something to do with the university re-opening today as well as the new students who will be registering for the second semester”.

Luckily, we got into the first bus that got there about ten minutes after I had arrived at the bus stop. Thabang and I sat on the same seat in the bus and as if I did not know that would happen, Thabang was telling me about how big a mistake he had made for letting me go. My mind was not there, of course, I was thinking of Moeketsi and his young ‘unattended to’ siblings. “Mahlatse!” Thabang shook me, “Your cellphone is ringing in your hand; are you not going to pick it up?” “Oh”, I said to him, “Thanks Thabang; I didn’t even notice it”. I looked at the phone and realised that it was Tokollo who was calling. “Hey”, I answered the call, “I am fine and you? Yes, I am in a bus to school; I’ll call you when I get off the bus because it’s noisy in here and I can hardly hear you. Okay baby, love you too”.

“Wow”, Thabang said after I hung up the call, “I cannot believe this”. “What can you not believe, Thabang?” I asked. Thabang looked at me with disgust-filled eyes and said, “Mahlatse, haven’t you been listening to me this whole time? I am trying to tell you that I am sorry for what I did to you and that I want you back and yet you tell another man, in front of me, that you love him with no shame or remorse?” Before I could give Thabang a piece of my mind, the bus pulled over—we had just arrived in TUT. I got up and made my way to the door. “Mahlatse”! Thabang called out from behind me, “Please wait for me; I am not done talking to you”. “Well, tough luck”, I said to him, “I have classes to attend”. “So”, Thabang said, “When can we finish with our conversation? I still love you, you know”.

“How about we never do?” I said to him while I was walking away, “You had your chance and you blew it; go back to that whore of yours! What was her name? Oh, I remember; Sharon!”. “Mahlatse, please don’t do this”, Thabang pleaded however I kept on walking without looking back even once. I got to class and met my other classmates who were all so happy to see me after the long June/July school holidays. After about half an hour, we received a message from our lecturers; they told us that there were not going to be any classes that day as it was the first day and some of our other lecturers were not back yet. Many students were excited upon receiving this news; I was excited too because I knew that I could hurry to Brooklyn Police Station to go pay Moeketsi’s bail.

Since buses were scarce on the day because of the high volumes of new students, I decided to catch a taxi back to town. When I got off the taxi, I ran as fast as I could to our flat. I took out R1 000 from the envelope I had under the mattress and thereafter made my way to Brooklyn. It must have been 12h30 when I got to Brooklyn Police Station to pay Moeketsi’s bail. I went straight to the counter and found a middle-aged woman wearing glasses. “Good day, ma’am”, I greeted her. “Yes”, the lady replied, rudely so, “Can I help you?” “Yes please”, I said, “I am here to pay Moeketsi Kgaladi’s bail”. The woman went through a stash of files that were lying on her table and a few minutes later said, “That would be R1 000”. I took out the money, all in R200 banknotes, and handed it to her. She carefully counted it and then yelled, “INSPECTOR MNGOMEZULU, KGALADI’S BAIL HAS JUST BEEN PAID; PLEASE GO AND FETCH HIM”.

A police officer went to the back offices and returned a couple of minutes later with Moeketsi. When Moeketsi saw me, he burst into tears. “You came back, as you had promised!” he said, with tears streaming down his cheeks, “Now I am a believer; thank you Lord”. The police officer went with Moeketsi to his table and said, “Just don’t forget to show up for court next week on Thursday, okay! Because if you do, we’ll place you again under arrest and, this time, the magistrate might not grant you bail. “Okay sir”, Moeketsi said, “I’ll be there, I promise”. When they were done with all the paperwork, Moeketsi left the police station with me.

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Diary of a rural girl chapter 57

Diary of a rural girl chapter 57

  23:07   1 comment:

The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Moeketsi’s sad life story

Chapter 57

“Do I know you?” Moeketsi asked, as he sat down on a seat opposite mine, with his eyes fixed on mine. “No, Moeketsi”, I replied, “You don’t know me but I know you. God has sent me to come and save you”. The moment became much tenser than before as there was silence between us for a few seconds. “God?” Moeketsi said, with a silly-looking look in his bloodshot eyes, “God has sent you in here to come and save me?” I said nothing and only nodded. Moeketsi then stood up from his chair and asked the police officer to take him away because he did not want to continue speaking to me. “Please Moeketsi”, I pleaded with him, “Wait, I am even prepared to pay your bail tomorrow. I could’ve paid it today however they told me that the cashier had already knocked off for the day”.

Moeketsi sat down again, stared at me and said, “Okay, what has God sent you to tell me?” I was silent for a few minutes because I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t want to say something creepy like, “I dreamt about you last night, Moeketsi”. I mean, who dreams of complete strangers they’ve only met once and later on tell them when the opportunity to do so presents itself? I checked the time on my cellphone and realised that it was 15h25, which meant that I had only 35 minutes left with Moeketsi. I also knew that what I had to say to him needed way too much time than I had at hand and therefore decided not to get deep into details.

“Look”, I said to Moeketsi, “As you’ve already mentioned, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Why would I care if you’re in here or not? I mean, tomorrow I am coming back to pay R1 000 bail money for you; why should I? It’s not like I don’t need that money, you know!” Moeketsi leaned closer to the window and said, “Okay, I am all ears; why are you doing all of these? What’s in it for you?” I let out a silly, girlish laugh and said, “Nothing. I am only doing this because of the deep love that the Lord Almighty has for you and is trying to show His love to you through me”.

“Oh”, Moeketsi said, “Is that so? If God really loves me, where was He all my life?” I looked at Moeketsi and noticed that there were now tears coming out of his bloodshot eyes. “Let me tell you the story of my life. My name is Moeketsi Kgaladi and I am 15 years old. I am originally from Zeerust but we moved to Lotus Gardens in Atteridgeville together with my family when I was still young, I think I was about 7 at the time. Even though he was there when I grew up, my father ran off with another woman shortly after we arrived here. After my father left, my mother had plenty of boyfriends so that they could support us financially as she was unemployed herself. Eventually, my mother’s sleeping around with multiple partners caught up with her as she was told at the local clinic that she was HIV positive when she was pregnant with my youngest brother, from one of her boyfriends. My mother passed away in late 2013 and as a result of that, I had to drop out of school so that I could look for a job to put food on the table for me and my siblings. I have two siblings, by the way, a sister and a brother; I am the oldest”.

I began to cry as I was listening to Moeketsi’s sad life story. “Who would employ an underage, unskilled child in a country whose constitution condemns the use of child labourers?” Moeketsi continued. That is what I was told from place to place where I knocked on the doors asking for a job. ‘South African law does not permit the employment of minors’, they all said to me. When that did not work for me, I took to the streets to go and beg at the traffic lights. That’s where I learned how heartless many South Africans are. People will literally let you starve to death because they assumed that I was there by choice. I was caught and warned a few times by members of the SAPS and the Tshwane Metro Police officers. They all threatened to arrest me if they ever caught me again begging for money on the streets. I didn’t want to take chances and therefore decided to stop”.

“Whenever I arrived home to find my siblings starving; I would cry all night. Mid-2014 I resorted to crime to feed my siblings. I would pickpocket in town however after I saw people beating another purse-snatcher in town to death, I didn’t want the same fate to befall me and therefore decided to stop pickpocketing in town. I began to target malls and whenever I would steal something, I would sell it and later buy a few essentials that we would eat on that night. I was caught yesterday and my siblings, wherever they are, spent the night hungry”, Moeketsi concluded. “Oh Moeketsi”, I said, wishing that I could give him a hug, “Can you see now that God has been watching over you and is now preparing to pull you out of your difficulties? He…” I was interrupted by a police officer who came to fetch Moeketsi as the time was now up. “I’ll be back tomorrow, Moeketsi, I promise”, I said to him as he was being taken away.

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Diary of a rural girl chapter 56

Diary of a rural girl chapter 56

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The rural girl who went to Gauteng

Mahlatse begins with her quest

Chapter 56

I left the church in a state of confusion; I just didn’t know where to begin. I thought that maybe I could start off at Brooklyn Mall so that I could ask security for CCTV footage of the previous day. “But who am I to be shown mall security footage? That footage is only shown to law officials—people such as police officers or attorneys who would like to use the footage for crime investigation purposes or as evidence in a court of law. Besides, it would be useless to go to the mall as the suspect was taken to Brooklyn Police Station the last time I checked”, I thought to myself. I had been to our apartment to change into more casual clothing. I knew I had a lot of walking to do on that day and I was just not going to do it in my knee-high skirt and high heels. After I had changed into a pair of jeans and sneakers, I made my way to Park Street, where I caught a taxi to Brooklyn.

“Excuse me, sir”, I said to the taxi driver as I handed him my fare, “Could you please drop me off at Brooklyn Police Station. I am meeting someone there and I don’t know where in Brooklyn the police station is”. “The police station is in Duxbury Road and that’s a route we don’t take. For an extra R5, I can drop you off there”, the taxi driver said. “Okay”, I said, “It’s fine with me”. When the taxi got to the Brooklyn traffic circle, instead of turning right, the taxi driver made a left turn. “Hey driver”, one of the passengers called out from the back, “Where the hell are we going? I’ll be late for my appointment, you know”. The driver looked at the passenger through the mirror and said, “Shut up! I just have to drop off someone in Duxbury because they’ve paid extra for a private drop off. If you’re in such a hurry, I can drop you off here instead so that you can catch another taxi. The passenger did not reply; he only kept quiet. This was one of the things that had always fascinated me with taxi drivers—they always seemed to have the last word. Whenever a taxi driver spoke, their voice instilled fear in the hearts of all their passengers.

Suddenly, the taxi stopped. The taxi driver looked at me and said, “Here we are, miss; there’s your police station on your left”. I got off the taxi, closed the door and before I could thank the taxi driver, he pulled off and drove away. I got into the Brooklyn Police Station’s charge office, where I joined in a queue of about three people. The queue moved faster than I had expected because one minute I had three people in front of me and the next, I heard a man’s voice beckoning me to the counter. “Is there anything I can help with today, ma’am”, the police officer said, as soon as I got to the counter. “Yes please”, I said, hesitantly so. I was hesitant and nervous because I just didn’t know where to begin. I was there to check on a suspect whose name I didn’t even know.

“I am looking for someone”, I said, after a brief moment of silence, trying to find the right words in my head, “He was brought in here yesterday after being beaten by taxi drivers at Brooklyn Mall for theft”. “Okay”, the police officer said, “I know of his case. If I may ask, what are you to the suspect? Are you his sister, girlfriend or relative?” I didn’t have an immediate answer to that question because I was none of the aforementioned people, “Uhm, I am his relative”. The officer looked at me with suspicious eyes and said, “Are you Moeketsi Kgaladi’s relative?” I nodded. The officer looked at me and said, “If you’re here for his bail, it’s R1 000 however you can only pay it tomorrow as our cashier only works until 1 o’clock on Sundays”. I told the officer that I would return the next day with the bail money however asked him if it was possible for me to see Moeketsi. “Yes, you can see him”, the police officer said, “However you must wait for 45 minutes before the visiting hour starts. Our visiting hours are 08h30–09h30 and 15h00–16h00 on weekends and it’s now 14h15”. I sat on one of the wooden benches in the charge office and played games on my cellphone to keep busy while I waited patiently for the 3 o’clock visiting hour to come.

“Miss”, the police officer came to fetch me, “Please come with me; it’s time”. He took me to another room with chairs and windows. The windows were for the visitors to be able to see and talk to the detainees at the police station holding cells. “Please take a seat, Moeketsi will be brought here in a moment”, the police officer said, as he showed me a seat. After about a minute after the police officer had left, a young man with a swollen face and a vicious cut above his left eyebrow came and sat on the seat opposite mine on the other side of the window. When I saw him, I shed tears of joy because I was glad that he was alive. It was just a miracle that he had survived such a serious beating. “Do I know you?” Moeketsi asked, as he sat down. “No, Moeketsi”, I replied, “You don’t know me but I know you. God has sent me to come and save you”.

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