A day in the life and home of a child in an informal settlement.
My name is Isabella Andies,but everyone just calls me Bellzy.I live in ……...an informal settlement!Today started out with me waking up from a big drop of water dropping on my head,then I soon figured out that it was raining.Since I don’t live in a proper house,I live in a shack, it always leaks from all directions,and I mean ALL directions.I walked to my mom and she told me that I was going to have to go to school without breakfast today.All I want is more food in my house, I don’t even care WHAT food I eat as long as it is food,My mom must understand that I simply can’t focus at school on a empty stomach.
On my way to school,I had to walk through a swamp and then I had to walk over hard,sharp rocks.By the time I got to school I was a dirty,wet bleeding MESS!But my parents can’t buy me some shoes but the idiot who sells decided the one pair of shoe just has to cost nine hundred rand!I had a lot on my plate and now I was wet and cold and my feet had horrible cuts on them.”Bellzy,what happened!”shout my friend Toby”I got a little hurt and a little wet on my way to school today,that’s all.”I answered.
It was almost the end of school and I was so hungry I couldn’t even see straight,all I wanted was food.My parents don’t usually pack me food because they are too poor but I wish they did because this happens EVERY DAY.I hope that one day mom will pack me some food for school so I can concentrate. I wish I didn’t have to go to school.
Toby said that he knew a way to get back home in one peace ,this I just HAD to see.Toby run into the ran into the middle of the road,”Tubbs are you mad!”I yelled.Toby’s nickname is Tubbs.”Maybe……….”He said back to me, soon a pink truck came and stopped right in front of Toby and he jumped into it”Come on,he will take us home”.So the pink truck drove us home that day,when I got home my mother announced that she was busy cooking the dinner over the fire and that I had to go and fetch the water for the bath.While I was standing a this long que “ I wish I had a bath at home with warm running water it would really help and I would have more time to do my homework”I muttered to myself.When I got back my mom had burnt down our house,if we had an oven or stove we wouldn’t have to cook using a fire and risk burning something and it would be much easier because we wouldn’t burn down our houses,but I think my mom was just being weird or something to burn down a house.
It was 9:30pm and I was pour the water that I fetched from the tap over me because I was washing myself, I could feel the cold water running down my body.Before I went to sleep I sat under a street light and finished my homework.If we had electricity in our house I wouldn’t have to sit on the cold ground at night doing my homework.
The next day
Today my parents got a lot of money from their boss so we are going to have a big house built on where our shack used to be.It will have a bath,electricity and a stove and an oven and my parents bought me a lovely new pair of shoes.There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
I enjoyed reading your blog. You identified some real challenges that people in an informal settlement can face.
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