VOICES OF THE INVlSmLE
6.3 Sipfio: J{'uUfen <But :Not POTgotten
6.3.1 Analysis of Sipho's Story
Educational Needs and Cultural Practices
Though child work is associated with poverty and unemployment, Sipho's case is different. He was born after the death of his mother's husband and was given to another family to be raised. It is never mentioned that his mother had any financial problems. She was working at the time and his otherbrothers were well taken care of. He believes that his mother was trying to hide him from her late husband's family. Being illegitimate separated him from his family for 13 years.
He had to start working very early in life at the age of 6. This puzzled him for he believes that there was no need for him to be hidden. According to him, the child born of the widow after the death of the husband belongs to thelate husband. This is even more so because he also uses the surname of his mother's late husband.
He had to work for relatives so that all his educational needs would be taken care for.
Work Activities
He tended cattle at a very early stage. This was a very time consumingand tiring job. He had to work for 4 hours a day for 4 days a week. Ona Wednesday, which was a day for the dip, he worked for 6 hours. During weekends, he worked for 9 hours a day. He worked 40 hours a week in all. This is thejob which created problems between him and teachers when he was at a secondary school. The school was far and he was always late. Teachers complainedabout him in front of other learners. His academic performance dropped. He felt trapped in the situation and responded by bunking classes and later by absenting himself from school altogether. His frustration with work and school did not end in truancy, but he started using drugs (smoking dagga). Drug abuse offered a form of release from
stress. Dagga is very expensive but he soon found a way ofmaking money. He supplemented tending of cattle for which he was paid nothing,by repairing shoes and started a hair-cutting business. Here, he spent about 2 hours a day on cutting hair. Repairing shoes was done at night. There were days when he could work for the whole night. Business was good in his 2 ventures. He was making enough money to finance his habit. At one stage he was framed for raping a mentally challenged girl. His family failed to protect him because they were not sure. His dagga smoking created a situation where even his own family did not trust him.
For them the possibility was there because of his intake of dagga. Sipho's family accepted guilt by paying a fine for him. This saddened him deeply. Eventually, at the age of 18, he was reunited with his brothers and a sister at Kwa Mashu. Here things were different. There was no need for him to work as everythingwas taken care of, for him. On the contrary he started his business at home. He owns a table in front of his home where he sells chips, sweets, fruit, and ice-blocks.Though he stopped smoking dagga, he has other personal expenses. He isnow the father of a baby girl. Even though his sister has paid for all the baby's needs,the desire to be independent still remains with him. At school he sells sweets and there are some girls working for him on a commission basis. He pays them R2 per packet sold.
Every morning he delivers his packets of sweets to different classes. He collects his money in the afternoon and his brother helps him when he is participating in sport.
Academic Performance
When he was in the lower grades, he did not experience anyproblems. It was when he was in secondary school that for the first time he recognised that he was nothing but an ordinary worker. The man of the house (his uncle) was not prepared to listen to his problems relating to school. As indicatedearlier, herding cattle was time consuming. He was always late, tired and failed to do his schoolwork properly. His academic performance dropped. He was always in conflict with teachers who eventually decided to ignore him. He repeated Grade 8 as well as Grade 9. There was too much work required for school and no time to
do it. He once tried to reason with his uncle who by then was no longer working but all was in vain. His frustration was further aggravated by the fact that for the first time he realised that he was a slave working for nothing. This family did not care for his academic performance as long as the job was properly done. He was supposed to earn his education, but under such conditions it was clear that his master was not committed to remunerating him fairly. One day one beast went astray. He was punished and chased away. He was once exposed to a sickness called "isichitho". He believed that he was bewitched for working for the same family for such a long time. Part of him would like to believe that this was the reason he was later chased away.
He does not expenence any problems with his business at home. There are problems with selling sweets at school. Such problems are related to the functioning of the school. His participation in sport both within and outside school is also impacting negatively on school performance. He is so frustrated with this that he feels the school does not cater for him. The demands of the school through sport put so much pressure on him that he failed to buy stock for his business. Sport activities are not well planned, as at times they are to go for practice during school hours. Teachers who are not involved in sport continue teaching and there is no sympathy for learners participating in sport. Learners participating in sport are punished for not doing work even if they were not there when such work was taught. In Grade 11 all 6 teachers who taught him were not involved in sport. Sipho is good at sport but he sees it as standing in his way. He had doubts whether he would manage in Grade 12 if he passed Grade 11. He knows that he is not brilliant and that he must work harder in order to pass. Sipho feels the family he worked for when he was young exploited him. According to him all cattle herders are given a female calf after a year. Since he worked for 13 years he was supposed to come out with a herd of cattle. He was exploited under the guise of his education. He feels that he lost on both counts of wealth and academic performance.
Future Plans
Sipho would like to be a singer and he wonders whether there is a need for him to have Grade 12 for this. He presently sings with a very promising gospel group. As is the case with many new groups, they are trying to raise funds to make their first cassette. If things go well he will not waste his time in school, but rather pursue his music career. After dropping out of school there are some changes in his plans. The grandmother of his daughter from the mother's side is putting so much pressure on him that he is looking for a job. He would like to do carpentry on a part time basis. He had been offered a number of jobs, but unfortunately he does not have an identity book. He is presently trying to get one.