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Lynne Carrol Born in the 90’s

Mothers are pillars of our society and they are a long way from being powerless. They are viewed as weakly beings who need men to help them with everything.

Mothers are strong, Strong willed, independent, and self sufficient. Now, these words describe the woman who is raising me. The woman  I am talking about is not only a mother to me but she is my Father, my sister, my teacher,my brother and my friend. My mother inspires me in many levels. She had me when she was 18 years. Lost her father while she was pregnant with me and was disowned by her mother for being pregnant with me. Now, most people would have given up hope, but not my mom. She stayed strong, carried on with school and worked at the same time.

Now having a mother that you practically grow up with gets hard sometimes. She is a working mother and we don’t get to spend as much time together as I would like us to, but as I grow up I understand everything she has done is for me.

Having Charmain as mother has taught me to always believe in myself and to never give up no matter what the challenges. She has taught me to never give up until I have achieved my goals.

She is passionate, forgiving, loving, stubborn, strong willed and determined.

Charmain is lesbian, single parent and I lover her.

Lerato Dumse born in the 80′s

In 1988 Bukelwa Dumse was a 23year old mother of two kids under the age of one .The 80s state of emergency disrupted schools and she had not completed her matric.

When I count my blessings, having my mother in my life is top of the list. Firstly I’m thankful for her optimism and attitude of always seeing the glass as half full. This gave her the strength and courage to go back to school full time and get her matric at the age of 27. Her resilience and can do attitude, allows her to raise two kids as a single unemployed mother. She is loving and caring,has brought strangers who are stranded home then helps them find their way home.   She motivates me to take care of myself, so I can age as beautifully as she is. I realize how blessed I am, to still have the opportunity to call or give my mom a hug on mothers day.

Collen Mfazwe born in the 80’s

I am Collen Mfazwe, 25 years old, from Daveyton. I love reading, music, cooking not forgeting taking pictures. You can call me cameraman, camerawomen or even photographer.  As long as I have pictures, life goes on. My mom, the rock.  It might sound crazy to you but it makes sense to me, because she’s my rock. She managed to carry me for nine months and raised six of us alone without our  “father”.  My rock was a mother, father, sister, friend, anything good you can think of. She’s not from a wealthy family. At the time that  I was born her granny kicked her out and her mom was married to another man so, she couldn’t  go and stay with her and was not  even raised by  her. She took us to rent in someone’s house.  She would go and look for work to make living a for us. Then she found a job and things started to get better for us. She would keep us warm all the time, she was earning minimum wage but she would always  make sure that we were clean and fed everyday. She was very brave and strong and she wanted to see us happy all the time. I remember this one time she saw kids who were selling steelwool on the street and she called them and asked questions. Later she went with them to meet their families and bought clothes for them and she would say “Isandla esiphayo sibusiseke ukundlula esamkelayo” meaning the more u give the more u receive blessings.  She was very kind, caring, lovely and down to earth. She was a very independent woman and she was living for her kids. She taught us how to be independent as well and taught us to always take care of each other  no matter how painful or hard the situation was. She taught us to stand by each other.  Even though she has passed on we are still doing exactly that.

I’m more like my mom.

She succumbed to the illness. She did not know that she was sick but kept pushing, working for us, providing for us. She did not want to leave us alone with nothing and worked hard because she wanted to leave us in our own home.

My mother passed on, on the 29th of March 2005, two weeks after my birth day. I was broken, I could not believe it ,we were heartbroken and worried about who would be there for us now that our mother was gone.

She’s the one who taught me “ubuhle bomuntu ukuzithanda kwakhe” not expensive clothes and to always pay respect to my elders.

Lorrain Mfazwe was everything to her children and her passing was a shock.  May her soul rest in peace.

Charmain Carrol born in the 70’s

Its 12th of May mothers day tomorrow. I can’t seem to stop thinking about my mothers. I am who I am today because of them. I never had a simple childhood. I grew up in 3 provinces. I used to see my mother once a year and that was Christmas eve when she brought us our Christmas clothes and lots of groceries for Christmas.

My granny was my everything. She gave me the foundation of life. My granny taught me to be a true xhosa woman. I grew up different so my granny always protected me and told me to always be strong. I never knew what she meant until I was in challenges where I had to be strong.

Now having these 2 strong powerful women in my life, who both played major roles in my upbringing and shaping the person that I am today. I cherish and love them still till today, their memory still lives on.

Wendy Nomthendeleko (nomlocks)Carrol was a self taught business women, who started selling second hand clothes on the streets of Lusikisiki. Later, she saved up money to own a super market right across the street, where she sold clothes. She defied the rules of her culture ( a women can’t buy a house on her own she needs a man to head it) but she didn’t need a man she was a man herself she would say.

She passed on in 2005.

Jane mamBokazi Ngqu

From a young age, I had never really seen my grandfather around, he lived with his second wife. My granny used to make clay beer pots (inqayi) and grass mats (izicamba nezithebe, nengobozi) and sold them to make ends meet. There was never a day that we slept hungry. She was one strong woman, who had 15 children and lost 11 of her children but still found a way to carry on. The last child she buried was my mother who passed on in 2008.

By

Lynne Carrol

Lerato Dumse

Collen mfazwe

Charmain Carrol