Love letter

They have been in Bubhesini for over six months now, and the kids are still not used to living in the bundus. Listen, can we talk about Likhaya? That little girl constantly asks about her father and she knows that she is saying It casually but it has gotten to a point where she does not answer her anymore. She has to be given the number one daddy’s girl award because no hour passes without her asking when her dad is coming. She nags about their new school. Thandiswa has to explain how important education is every morning to her because she does not understand why there are no white people at that school.

“Junior if you are not done in five minutes you will walk to school,” Said Thandiswa as she packed their lunch boxes, he comes out of his room tying his school tie around his neck, he is almost the same height as her now, by next year she will have to raise her head and look up just to see his face. “Can you attend the parents’ meeting on Friday?” he said as he sits on the chair

She looked at him, he sighed “You do not have to attend, they just want to share the progress for the term and what is needed, I can ask my friend to ask his mother what they were talking about and pass the message to you,” he said, making her feel some type of way, when did her son grow up? Just years ago he was still a baby running around their house and now she has a deep voice and is almost as tall as her.

She looked at him and take a deep breath, “I will attend,”

“Mom, come on. You do not have to, we both know you will lose your job if you miss a day, it’s fine I can get you a message,” he said taking a spoonful of cereal.

Sigh, “Junior you are fifteen years old, can you please act your age? Why do you have to act like you are fifty years old? I said I will come to that meeting and that’s it!! We are no longer having this conversation,” I she says as she wipes the table and now she feels like crying right now.

A month after they moved here he came home from school and found her crying, that was when she had to tell him why she was crying, “I do not want to stay with dad, I hate him,” he said

She wiped the tears from her face and looked up at him “What? What do you mean? Your dad loves you guys and he will come here soon,” she said looking at her son, if she was to tell them the real reason why they left, it would break him so much and the last thing she wants is for her son to become a rebel

He sighed, “I know about your divorce mom and I know that he wants to take us from you but I promise, I will never leave you, please stop crying,” he said and she felt a stinging pain in her heart, the last thing she wanted was for any of her kids to see that side of her, the weak side. But it seemed like he has seen her cry before.

Now he acts like an adult, he does not even ask for fancy shoes anymore, he would rather wear the ones he has. It breaks her already broken heart for not being able to provide enough for them, it shows how Lungile was the one who did everything for them. He gave her R5000 every month and from that, she had to pay their funeral insurance, clothing accounts, and tv account, and buy groceries and other essentials around the house. He only provided money for his children, she still does not know why he hasn’t tried looking for them because the Lungile that she knows would have found them by now.

The kids have left, and they use the school bakkie with the other kids around the area. She had to sell her car to cover the costs, she never knew how hard life was until now. For years she has never had to worry about money. “Aibo! Sisi, we are late, loya mlungu will give us hell,” says Zimasa, she lives not far from her place and they work at the same dairy farm. She is the one who helped her find this job because they do not care about the qualifications there, as long as you are a hard worker then the job is yours. Thank God she was not your typical rich housewife who had a million nannies and maids, she did everything around the house because she preferred it that way.

“Kahle oe, we still have 30 minutes. I had to walk Likhaya to the school transport, she was being fussy today,” she says and Zimasa laughs as she fixes the straps of her bag, “Why are you eating boiled eggs ekseni kangaka?” she asked looking at her

She chuckles, “Shlobo, I think I am pregnant, uyazi I cannot believe Dumisani nutted in me again. I told him that I do not want another child because we can barely afford to take care of Thandolwethu, I do not think men have brains sisi,” said Zimasa and she just laugh it off as they walk into the building. As much as she is telling it as a joke, she does feel like she is worried about being pregnant. Her boyfriend works at another farm, they barely make more than R3000, bringing another child into all of this is not a good idea.

“Can everybody gather in the field before clocking,” the voice comes through the speakers, and her anxiety starts going up because no good news ever comes out after this gathering. Someone will either get fired or our pay is being cut again. We all walk to the field, anxious about what is waiting for us.

“Everybody sit please,” says the manager, everyone sits down and waits for her to either be the end or start of their lives. “As we all know, this farm is now under new management, the previous owner has sold it and the new owner has implemented a few changes,”

The mumbling starts, everyone knew for a while that there is a new owner, but he is still mysterious. Nobody knows his face because he bought this farm through phone calls with his broker.

“I will cut to the chase, most of you are getting retrenched because you have no qualifications and our new boss wants people with qualifications to their names. I hate being the bearer of bad news but unfortunately I had to deliver this message before the end of the business,” she said and she can feel my soul slowly living in her body, literally. She turns and looks at Zimasa, she is just as shocked. Most of them expected this but not so sudden. There is commotion and she is standing there unfazed. She does not seem to care at all, “Can everybody please sit down, I am not done talking,” she says on the mic

They are not paying any attention to her at all, “Please sit down!!” she says a bit louder, and they settle down still mumbling to themselves.

“Everyone with no qualification will get R20 000 each and if anyone is against that you are free to take this to court but here is some free advice, I would rather you all take the money and start your farming or whatever businesses, you are all skilled with those hands so think smart, Taking him to court you will be making things hard for yourselves because it is his business he can do whatever he wants with it, he does not have to pay you anything because you did not sign any contract with him,” she says and it all makes sense. She takes out a piece of paper and looks at us, “Can Ms. Zethi? Ms. Khumalo, Ms. Khayalami, and Mr. Ngobese come see me in my office and the rest of you can go back to work,” she says and Thandiswa turns and looks at Zimasa with an eyebrow raised. Mr. Ngobese is a friend of ours, he is one of the people I got closer to when I came here, he lives next to Zimasa and we are all good friends. His name is Sipho, he is a very nice guy. He helped her catch the ropes when she first came to work here.

“Do you have any idea why she wants to see us? Or are we the ones getting fired?” she asked holding her chest, Sipho laughs, he has a very beautiful baritone laugh. “Stop being crazy, you have a degree your name, there is no way you guys are getting fired,” he says looking at her and Zimasa, sigh.

“Let us go,” he says with a smile on his face. She takes a few deep breaths, “Relax,” he says brushing her arm, she turns to look at him and looks back down. She cannot help but feel anxious, now she wishes she had brought her medication with her. Zimasa takes her hand and we both follow Sipho to the office, he looks stressed too, he is dependent on the salary just like them and she can tell that he is trying to act strong for their sake