Vast stretches of land flashed by; grassland, mountains, grassland again. Naledi suddenly felt very small. Before this journey to fetch Mma, she had never imagined that all this land existed. Nor had she any idea of what the city was like. She had never known a person like Grace before, and she had never known her own mother in the way she was beginning to know her now …
“That’s it. I’m sure that’s it!”
Tiro’s voice startled Naledi from her thoughts, but already the orange farm to which he was pointing was in the distance. Mma nodded with a slight smile.
Chapter Twelve
THE HOSPITAL
None of them spoke after that, their thoughts all turned to Dineo. When the train pulled in at their station, Mma hurried the children out on to the platform. Outside, she spoke anxiously to a man standing against a car. After she had taken some notes from her purse, he agreed to take them first to their village and then go on to the hospital. So much money, thought Naledi. Mma must have borrowed it.
As the car bumped along the road into the village, churning up the dust, it seemed longer than two days that they had set off walking. Mma directed the driver to the house and people looked up as the car passed by. It wasn’t often a car came this way. The sound of the engine brought Nono and Mmangwane outside. Nono looked so thin and weary, but her eyes lit up when she saw whom it was.
“The child is very sick,” she whispered in a low voice.
Mma rushed in and came out clasping Dineo close to her, the little girl lying limply in Mma’s arms, her eyes sunken.
“You children must stay with Nono,” Mma said firmly, as they struggled to bring the case out of the car.
“Oh please, Mma, can’t I come with you? Please?” Naledi pleaded. “Tiro can help Nono.”
Mma looked across at Nono, whose tired face nodded “yes”. Naledi gave her grandmother a quick hug.
“Thank you, Nono! Tiro will tell you everything … and please don’t be angry with us. We’re very sorry we gave you more worry.”
“But we had to get Mma!” put in Tiro.
“Well, come in and tell us about it,” invited Mmangwane.
Nono put an arm round Tiro’s shoulders as they waved goodbye. From inside the car Naledi watched the little group grow smaller until they had quite disappeared behind the clouds of dust.
As the car now jerked its way back to the town over the rough roads, Mma cradled Dineo in her arms, whispering soft words to her. Naledi held Dineo’s little hand, stroking and playing gently with her fingers. But the little girl made no response. Each minute on the way to the hospital now seemed important. What if they got there just a minute too late. That couldn’t happen … could it?
At last they were travelling through the town, and then out into the open again, until at last there was a cluster of low white buildings with a few trees and bushes scattered between them. Some people were waiting by the roadside outside the hospital, and as soon as Mma and Naledi climbed out of the car, an old man came hobbling over to the driver. He was followed by others and almost immediately the car, packed tight with people, was rumbling off back to the town.
Naledi stayed close to Mma as she made her way past people sitting or lying down on the ground in front of the buildings. A lady with a thin blanket wrapped over her shoulders pointed the way.
Around the corner they found the queue of patients. It led up to a verandah where a woman in white sat at a desk.
“Is that the doctor for Dineo?” Naledi whispered.
Mma shook her head. “No. We must get a card first. The doctor is inside.”
The queue moved very slowly as people shuffled forwards after every few minutes. Some patients, who were too weak to stand, lay wedged against the wall and had to be helped along. Just in front of Mma and Naledi was a young woman with a small baby tied in a blanket to her back. Naledi wondered if the woman or the baby was the patient.
The sun shone down on the queue. Mma tried to screen Dineo from the glare, but the heat seemed to soak in everywhere and Dineo began to whimper. Mma tried rocking her gently, while Naledi tried singing her little songs which had always made her laugh. However, now Dineo didn’t even seem to hear them …
When finally it was Mma’s turn at the desk, Naledi relaxed a little. Now Dineo could go inside and be given medicine. But when Mma led the way down a corridor and into a room filled with far more people than had been outside, Naledi felt panic grip her.
“Are all these people before Dineo, Mma?” she cried softly.
“They are also very sick, Naledi. We must be patient.”
They were lucky to find space on a bench next to the young woman with the baby. She didn’t look much older than Grace, thought Naledi.
It was the young woman who spoke first.
“It’s always long to wait. I was here before with my baby and now he’s sick again.”
“What’s the problem?” Mma asked.
“Last time the doctor said he must have more milk, but I’ve no money to buy it.”
Mma sighed. “I think it’s the same sickness with my child.”
Chapter Thirteen
LIFE AND DEATH
All through the afternoon, they watched the patients being called one at a time by the nurse. Once the doctor himself came out. His face seemed nearly as white as his coat, except for the dark shadows under his eyes.
By mid-afternoon, Dineo needed water, but when Mma carried her to a small fountain in one corner, she almost turned away. It was so dirty! Naledi came over and struggled to cup some water in her hand without touching the sides. Then she let the water dribble over Dineo’s dry little lips.
Naledi now began to feel her own empty stomach twist and turn. Her last meal had been with Grace the night before. Mma seemed to read her thoughts and sent her out to see what she could buy for a few cents. When Naledi came back with three small buns, Mma offered one to the young woman. From the way she ate it, Naledi could tell that she was very hungry too.
It was only after the light had begun to fade outside that the young woman was called to take her baby to the doctor. The child had been very quiet all afternoon, wrapped snugly against its mother’s back.
In a very little time the young woman came out of the doctor’s room, clutching a plastic bag. Her whole body was shaking and a man close to the door caught her just as her legs gave way.
“My baby, my baby … he’s dead, he’s dead!”
Her sobs filled the waiting room. Before Mma could go to comfort her, the nurse reappeared calling for Dineo. The sobbing pierced Naledi’s mind. She heard Mma telling her to stay where she was and she watched numbly as her little sister was now carried away. Then Naledi’s gaze shifted to the plastic bag. The little baby had seemed to be sleeping so peacefully just a few minutes ago. Was it already dead then?
With head bowed, almost buried in the parcel, the young woman forced herself up and stumbled out of the waiting room. Naledi’s eye now fixed on the doctor’s door, but instead she saw a plastic parcel being laid in a grave. It made her want to run to Mma. She sat gripping tightly on to her seat.
When Mma finally returned, her arms were empty.
“What happened, Mma?” Naledi cried.
“We must leave Dineo here and I must come back in three days … her throat is very bad … and her body is too weak …” Mma’s voice sounded choked.
Before leaving Mma had to pay at the desk. There would be more to pay later, so she checked the remaining notes in her purse.
“We’ve nothing for bus fare … we’ll just have to walk home.”
Mma looked drained.
“But it’s not so far as Jo’burg, Mma!” Naledi put her arm through Mma’s. She was surprised at her own sudden confidence when only a little while ago she had wanted to run to Mma for comfort herself. Well, at least they had each other.
Outside it was dark, but the moon fortunately lit the road and Mma knew a way which avoided the town. So with arms linked, they set off on the long walk ho
me.
On the way Naledi asked about the doctor. Mma said they were lucky because he had been very gentle with Dineo, although he looked sick himself from tiredness.
“Did he say Dineo will get better, Mma?”
“We can only hope, my child …” Mma paused and pressed Naledi’s hand. “I’m thankful you came for me. We must hope the medicine will save her.”
The doctor had also told Mma that Dineo needed milk, fruit and vegetables to keep her body strong.
“But he didn’t tell me how to find the money to buy them all,” Mma added quietly.
By the time they reached their village, the moon had moved far across the dark sky. Nono stirred as they entered the house. She had been waiting anxiously for their return. Naledi could hardly keep her eyes open while she drank the tea Nono gave her. She crept under the blanket, finishing her last mouthful.
Chapter Fourteen
WAITING
It was usually a good time for the children when Mma was at home. First there would be the excitement of waiting for her to arrive and then the flurry of greetings, hugs and news. Later, Mma would open her case and bring out the presents she had been saving for the family. On her ‘day off’ in the city, she sometimes went to jumble sales to buy the clothes the white people no longer wanted. Then would follow the pleasure of days when Mma would be around the house – helping Nono with the work, or playing with Dineo, and always ready to listen to the children’s stories about what they had been doing.
But this time was different – like the time when Mma came just after Rra died.
The three days of waiting before Mma had to return to the hospital passed slowly. The grown-ups didn’t speak of their worst fear, although Naledi saw the heavy, worried look in their eyes. Each morning Tiro asked Mma how much longer it was until she had to collect Dineo. Then, after he had helped bring the water, he would go off to play for short periods, but Naledi preferred to stay all the while at home with Mma.
On the fourth day Mma set off very early, alone. She had borrowed just enough money from a neighbour to pay for her bus fare to and from the hospital. That day seemed to pass even more slowly. Tiro stayed right outside the house fiddling with a piece of wire, changing its shape many times, then using it to draw in the sand. When Naledi wasn’t busy, she came and sat on the doorstep, gazing out at the road. She forced her mind to stay blank, just searching the distance for any figures coming from the direction of the big road, where the bus would stop. She didn’t want to think about what was happening in the hospital, because it would bring back the picture of the plastic bag.
From time to time, Naledi would see the vague shape of a woman appear with a baby wrapped to her back, but as she came closer, Naledi would see it wasn’t Mma. It was late in the afternoon when at last there was a figure which really did seem to be Mma. Naledi called out to Nono, who was in the house, and she and Tiro began racing up the dusty road.
“It’s Mma! It is!” Tiro shouted as they ran.
“Dineo’s on her back!” Naledi panted.
As the two children came sprinting towards her, Mma stopped and turned a little so they could see their sister. As the children greeted her, she gave a shy smile, resting her head on Mma’s shoulder.
“She’s still quite weak, but her fever has gone,” said Mma.
With Naledi and Tiro either side of her, Mma walked on to the house. Mmangwane came up the road, calling out in delight. Nono remained at the door, holding on to the side for support.
“My child,” she whispered, as she put out her hand to touch Dineo’s head.
Chapter Fifteen
HOPE
That night the children found it hard to get to sleep. Mma had to return to the city the next morning as each day she was losing pay.
There was all the borrowed money to pay back now, as well as the money to send Nono each month for food, school and all the other expenses. Mma was clearly worried about Dineo not getting enough milk. The nurse had repeated what the doctor had told Mma about Dineo needing milk, fruit and vegetables.
“But we work very hard and earn very little,” Mma had said with a sigh as she cuddled Dineo, before putting her down to sleep.
Tiro had said goodnight, but lay thinking about the boy on the orange farm. He wondered if he himself was old enough to go and find work. But he knew Mma wouldn’t agree. Hadn’t she said the children working the farm should be in school?
Then he thought of Dumi and the bit in the letter about studying in another country. Studying what? Tiro wondered. He would ask Naledi tomorrow …
Tomorrow he would also remake his wire car and try out Jonas and Paul’s design. Putting out his arm, he touched Dineo. It was lovely knowing she was there again. If only Mma didn’t have to go away now …
Naledi lay awake too, listening to the murmuring voices of Nono, Mmangwane and Mma. It was so comforting to hear them all together. But tomorrow night Mma’s voice would be missing.
Naledi buried her head in her arms, forcing back her tears. Crying wouldn’t help. She couldn’t imagine Grace crying and Grace had to look after her young brothers and the house all by herself most of the time. Yet Grace had said things in a way that made you feel better, like when she had said, “We’re pushed all over the place, but it won’t be like that for ever.”
But when would they see Grace again? It occurred to Naledi that at least they could write to each other. Tomorrow she must ask Mma to find out Grace’s address.
Then a new idea came to her. Wasn’t it possible that in her own school there were people like Grace? Naledi had overheard bits of conversations amongst the older students, although she had never taken much notice before. But why shouldn’t she begin to talk to them and become friends, even if she was a little younger? If they heard she had been to Johannesburg, they could be interested, she was sure.
What was it Mma had said about the children in Soweto? That they didn’t want to learn just to be servants. Oh yes, they were right.
All of a sudden, lying there in the dark, it became so clear to Naledi. It wasn’t just their schools they were talking about. It was her school too. All those lessons on writing letters … for jobs as servants … always writing how good they were at cooking, cleaning, washing, gardening … always ending with “Yours obediently”.
Naledi had never thought about it before tonight, but never, never, had she written about wanting to be … say, a doctor. Yes, that’s what she’d like to be. Imagine how useful it would be if she became a doctor. Especially in their own village, she could even look after her own family.
For a few moments, Naledi lay imagining herself in a long white coat, in a bright room with shining cupboards all around her (like the cupboards where Mma worked). Then something jarred …
She saw in her mind someone bringing her a little baby. The mother looked like the young woman in the queue at the hospital and the baby was so thin that its little rib bones pushed up from under its skin. The mother was clearly poor and had no food for her child.
Where would she, the doctor, get food for the baby? When she opened her shining cupboards they were empty.
Naledi then began to imagine a whole line of mothers and grandmothers bringing weak, thin little babies up to her. What could she do?
For a while she felt the tears pressing on her eyelids again. No! She wouldn’t give in to tears. It was just that she couldn’t work this all out by herself. Well, school would be starting again in a week. That wasn’t long. At break time she would go where the older students usually sat chatting. Just wait till they heard where she and Tiro had been.
Naledi turned over and stroked Dineo’s cheek, making her sister smile a little in her sleep. How strange, thought Naledi. If Dineo hadn’t been so terribly ill, she and Tiro would never have made the journey to get Mma. It had saved Dineo, she was sure. But also through this journey, she had begun to find out so much …
The grown-up voices had stopped and Naledi heard Mma blow out the lamp and quietly shift into
bed. Naledi’s eyelids were heavy and she felt sleep pulling at her. She fell asleep at last, picturing her first day back at school, surrounded by friends, old and new.
Footnotes
Chapter One – Naledi’s Plan
1 “little mother” in Tswana
2 “mother” in Tswana
Chapter Two – The Road
1 Every black South African over sixteen years had to carry a “passbook” at all times. It named the place where that person had to live and work
Chapter Three – Oranges!
1 a corn on the cob
2 porridge made from corn-meal
3 “Stay well”: farewell greeting in Tswana
4 “Go well”: farewell greeting in Tswana
Chapter Four – Ride on a Lorry
1 “father” in Tswana. The children are being polite to an older person
Chapter Five – The City of Gold
1“boss”
Chapter Six – A New Friend
1 “mother” in Tswana. The children are being polite to an older person
Chapter Eight – Police
1 “shut up”
MORE THAN A STORY
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
TSWANA NAMES MEANINGS
THE HISTORY OF APARTHEID
THEY TRIED TO LOCK UP FREEDOM – A POEM BY BEVERLEY NAIDOO
WHAT INSPIRED THIS BOOK?
More than a Story Section © HarperCollins Children’s Books 2008
Photo of Beverley Naidoo © Linda Brownlee
Journey to Jo’burg was a journey for me as well as for Naledi and Tiro. You see, when I was growing up, I was the child who had two mothers. I had my own mother as well as a different mother who, although she was looking after me, really belonged to some other children. I knew her as “Mary”, but her proper name was Mma Sebate. The laws of South Africa at that time even forbade her own children to live with her – because her family was black. Ours was white. Those terrible laws had been made by the whites-only government and were part of what was called apartheid (which in English means “separation”).
Journey to Jo'Burg Page 4
