I grew up in Kimberley which is about seven hours away. I have a younger brother, a half-brother, if I may put it that way. My parents, they got married when they were very young. And then in our culture we pay lobola—bride price. My father paid it, and then I don’t know what happened between him and my mom, because no one really wants to tell me. Family secrets.
My dad bought a house. Things were going well, and I don’t know what happened between him and my late mom. My mom has since passed on. And then I remember all of a sudden I was not staying with both of them. I was just living with my mom. And at my grammy’s house, which is a family house. My aunts were living there together with their kids. It was a big family, and I have a half-brother from my mom’s side. From my father’s side, I don’t know a lot about them.
During the holidays, school holidays, or during weekends, my mom would take me there to visit my dad. He remarried. And then my grandmother, which is my dad’s mom, doesn’t stay far away from my dad. It’s like two streets away. So every time I would visit, I wouldn’t really go to my dad’s house directly. I would go to my grandma’s.
Something hard was that both my parents didn’t raise me. But even though they didn’t raise me, my mom was always there for me. She gave me the best education. She took me to—I remember I went to a private school, high school, and then I got a [inaudible] there. Even though it’s typical, not growing up with both of my parents, I think that was the hardest thing.