S. is an 18 year old orphaned girl who was abandoned by her mother at her mother’s friend’s house without saying where she was going and when she was coming back. When her mom abandoned her S. was only a 2 years old minor with no other known relatives. All was well for S. after her mom abandoned and left her with her friend and her family. Her mother’s friend took very good care of the little S. until she took ill when S. was about 4 years old. After the death of her mother’s friend who loved and took care of S. like one of her own, things started turning around as the grandmother of the family and other family members started ill-treating the little S. The living conditions worsened each and every day for the little girl as she group up in very extreme conditions, forced into hard labour and where she would sometimes go to bed without a hot meal just because there was a chore that she could not manage to finish.

Sometimes she was even kicked out of the house and forced to sleep outside until one unfortunate night that destroyed the little S’s life, one particular night when she was 16 years old S. was kicked out of the house and had to spend the night outside. This night a pervert who was eyeing the young girl who was regularly kicked out of the house, picked up the young girl and offered her a place to sleep. This man repeatedly raped her all through the night and impregnated her and infected her with HIV. After her rape charges were laid and the police began with an investigation but the evil grandmother, the mother of S’s late mother insisted that the charges be dropped and the perpetrator went free.

After a few months S. gave birth to an HIV baby girl and that’s where things turned for the worst for her, the grandmother and the whole family started to stigmatize the young girl and her toddler calling them names. Because of the conditions and hunger S. had to scavenge and beg for food where man started using her as a sex slave where she fell pregnant with another child at the age of 18, she doesn’t know the father of her child because she was sleeping around.

Due to her living conditions and fighting that was happening, Masoyi HBC management decided to relocate S. and moved her to live in a one room shack at the back room in a yard where Masoyi HBC built a for orphans, where she is currently living now. She was also recently helped to register her two children for child support grant and it was a success, the children are getting the monthly grant and life is a little better now because she can now buy food for herself and both her children.

More good news – thanks to a generous donation from the UK, S. and her children are having a secure new house built for them over the next couple of months.