Suffer little children...

• February 16, 2012 | Admin

I drove back from Slovoville feeling very sad today.

Last Wednesday a little girl arrived at Khanya. She ran to the teacher and hugged her. Her granny followed her in. The teacher explained that she had been in care for some time but her granny had been in court that morning and been given her back. Apparently the little girl’s mom had died of Aids the year before. Someone reported that the granny was abusing the little girl (I have no idea what the truth is of this) and the girl had been taken to a foster home. The foster home closed and for a while social services allegedly “lost” the little one in its system. She was “found” early in January. Granny is suing the social services.

But the story does not end there. Granny was hit by a car some time ago and is partially disabled and cannot work. She has no income and also carries a passport – she is a foreigner and cannot access a disability grant or a child-care grant. She has been surviving by helping with cooking and cleaning at the centre when she can, and eating at the centre. The little girl immediately started eating at the centre as well, only going home to sleep.

As she is old enough to go to Grade 1, granny took the girl to register her at Bottom Primary. Other problems are that there is no money for a school uniform, and no social worker's letter to say that she does not have to pay fees. Africa Food for Thought has, in its wonderful way, sorted out these difficulties and our little one will be going to school with a uniform from Thursday.

But what made me sad today is that the little child’s granny has gone to Kagiso to family, what for we do not really know. She has left her grandchild with the teacher at Khanya. She brought all the child’s clothes and a blanket and told the teacher to take the child to the school on Wednesday. Both the teacher and I wonder whether she will be back. I can imagine the effect this has all had on the child’s emotional well-being.