This is 13-year old Kelebogile Kebafitlhetse's story

Kelebogile Kebafitlhetse was not only born into poverty, but as the eldest child in her homestead, the 13-year-old student at Mmanaana Junior School in Moshupa has to fend for her three siblings and an incapacitated mother.

What compounds her situation is having to even share makeshift shack in their yard with 11 other relatives.She is beautiful, humble and hardworking at school where despite her challenges at home, she manages to score marks in the Grade B category. She has to always do and complete her homework at school because of lack of space as well as the heavy chores at home.

“Nothing stays in order in the shack,” she shares her story with The Midweek Sun. “Everything is exposed - frayed underwear, the onset of puberty and all the mischief other children get to hide behind closed doors,” she adds with a chuckle.

As the eldest, Kebafitlhetse also wears the parent ‘hat’ as her paralysed mother is unable to take care of them let alone herself. The petite young girl’s mornings begin at 4:30 am despite the brutal winter cold. She fetches water from a communal Jojo about a kilometre away, freshens up and then makes porridge for the family – and this is only if they have not run out of the monthly food package they receive from council.

“Almost every night, particularly in winter, is a fractured sleep. It feels like we are outside especially with no insulation and the cold wind coming in from all angles,” she says. Her biggest dream is to finish school and become a nurse so she can help her mother and give her family a good life. But for now, she dreams of a proper place to rest her pretty head, with somewhere to put a desk and light so she can study and do her homework with ease. And at some point her hopes were raised, and then dashed.

Some months ago, compelled by both her struggle and potential, the school went on a fundraising drive to build her a more decent house by Independence Day. Unfortunately, according to the coordinator of the project, Deputy School Head at Mmanana CJSS, Tebogo Mosweu, funds have been very slow to trickle in and with that Kebafithlile’s hope to celebrate her country’s Golden Jubilee in a dignified home went up in smoke.

The young girl shares the story of the shattered dream: “I was excited when I first learnt of the plan to build us a home. It’s something I pray for everyday but I also admit that the uncertainty of it really happening does creep in now and again. It does give me anxiety,” she says in dejection. When her peers in class focus on their learning, she has to worry about whether she has a place to sleep at night.