A Day Living in the Informal Settlements

It's always good to have a positive outlook on life, but I really think that you can't get any worse than how my life is now.

I have one brother and a Mom and Dad. I'm really lucky because 40% of the people in South Africa only have one parent. I'm really worried that I'm going to become one of them though. Yo see, my dad is in the hospital because he has HIV. HIV and TB is really common in the townships, which is where I live. Our home, an informal settlement, is really tiny. So personal space isn't really an option. We have one area where we sleep, a dining room and a kitchen. We're really lucky because there's a tap right outside our 'house'. This morning there was no food in our cupboard, except for two sandwiches which we took for lunch. Fortunately, my brother and I got to school early. There are 65 children in our class. Today, we were learning a new maths subject but I didn't understand it properly. I put my hand up and waited for the teacher. She didn't even see me because I was sitting at the back. Plus, there were a lot of other kids that needed help. This made me quite annoyed. I want to get a good job when I get older, so that I won't ever get hungry and i will get a proper house. Well, I guess I'll have to learn on my own and hope for the best.

 Unfortunately, it was really muddy everywhere because it had rained last night. I didn't want to get dirty so I sat with two of my friends on one of the benches. We talked about how we could get jobs and how we should help around our community. I think that there is always hope for a better life. Our home isn't the best place in the world, but it's still ours, so we're going to try to make the best of it.