The centre

After spending some few months in her new home which was a children's centre, Rowena was getting used to the environment and the new rules. But the social workers moved her to another centre when they found that it was overcrowded. The new centre she was moved in, was a bit far from the first one. This meant that she was even far from her home province. Since there were few children's home centres around the area she was in, the social workers suggested that she should be taken to Kraaifontein in the Western Cape. She moved to her new home centre and suddenly she had to adjust to new surroundings.

The new centre was totally different from the one she was in before. It was bigger and less crowded than the first one. Most children there were from different ethnic groups. There were the colours, few Whites, Indians and Blacks. She fitted in perfectly because she was a mixture of black and white. She was referred to as a coloured girl although she was not speaking Afrikaans language, like other coloured people. This made her difficult to fit in. She did not want to be in the coloured group because she did not speak Afrikaans. She did not fit in the black group either, because she looked like a coloured. The whites and Indians did not accept her because she was different from them too. This made her to be an odd one. Most of the time she spent time playing by herself with no one to play with. This made her sad and miserable as it reminded her of all sorts of insults she was labelled with when she was in her home village. She was called a bat or a mule. These names meant that she had no side to belong to. She was just in between ethnic groups. She was bullied mostly by the coloured children because she was from the village and she did not know how to communicate with them in Afrikaans. She had no one to stand up for her until one coloured girl named Clara intervened. Clara was a big stout girl with a physique of a rugby player. She was already in her teen years and had been in a centre since childhood. She had only a year left under the care of the centre. Clara was popular among all children in the centre because she did not take any nonsense especially from those younger children who bullied others. Shoul she found one child bullying the other, she would give them a good hiding before taking them to the matron of the centre. Even the matron was not a nice person either. She would give the bully a punishment that would make them hesitate to bully others again.

For the first time in her life, Rowena had someone who was on her side. She was able to open up to Clara about the way she felt. Clara became a big sister she never got and she felt safe at her presence. She got a chance to participate in in some of the activities that were performed at the centre. She enjoyed the dance classes and became good at dancing. She joined the music group as well and she could sing very well. Even at school she was doing well. Her teachers were find of her as she was a diligent learner. She collected awards in her school work as well as sporting activities. She was one of the top achievers. She gained her confidence back and was no longer that withdrawn child who lost a sense of belonging. Clara made sure she was not left behind in her work.

When there was a time to choose clothing items from the donated packages, Clara would make sure she got the best clothes. Her dream of having shoes was fulfilled. She was no longer barefooted as she was in the village. Her school uniform fitted her do perfectly, unlike the one one she wore I the village. It was patched with different pieces of cloths because torn. It was a handout from one of the students whom their parents bought a new uniform for her. So, she gave it to her because she has no uniform at all. Now she owned her uniform that the social workers bought for her. Even the clothes she wore were ten times better than those she wore at the village. Her hair was neatly straightened and it resembled those of the coloured girls. Clara used to help He dress when was going to school. She tied her hair with strings that matched the colour uniform. And she would tie it at the back or make it look like a pony tail. She looked neat and presentable. She was proud of the girl she had become and everyday she saw her dreams being fulfilled. She imagined herself going to a college to study for a diploma. That made her work even harder. Although it was going to be a quite number of years before she finished school, to her it was like a few years. She could not wait to finish studying and become independent. Her dream was to build her grandmother's home and make more that it was before. Her grandmother was the only parent she knew alrhot her real mother was Cynthia. She never got a chance to see her mother. So, to her a monther was her grandmother.

Clara was always on her side at school and at the centre. So, no one had ever bothered to bully her around not infront of Clara. Clara on her side was determined to study hard. She was not that brilliant but she got an inspiration from Rowena. When it was study time they would sit together and do their homeworks. Although they were in different grades, they like to sit in one place and di their school work. They were like they knew each other for ages. They got along quite well. Clara was the first friend she ever had. Their age gap did not matter that much as they were comfortable with each other. Clara on the other hand saw herself as some kind of parental figure to her. She treated her as her own child.