MATANGARI - Life has always been tough for the six orphans of the Thobo family at Matangari village near Thohoyandou. The kids have been the most tragic victims of poverty and have had no one to look after them since their Zimbabwean father disappeared two years ago and their mother, Mavis, died in February 2003 after a long illness.

Ronald (21), Eunice (16), Humbulani (15), Rudzani (12), Leonard (7) and Lastborn (2) do not receive any child grant and they are at times forced to beg in order to survive. Ronald has been forced to drop out of school in Grade 10 in order to support his siblings.

Going to bed with empty stomachs is a usual thing for the kids, as Ronald cannot raise enough funds to feed the family. He does odd jobs like gardening and selling firewood in order to get something to bring back home. Eunice, Humbulani, Rudzani and Leonard are all at school and they have not so far paid any school funds because Ronald cannot afford to pay for them.

They go to school bare footed, without any uniform, and the winter cold envelops their bodies because they do not have any warm clothes. With the unseasonable rain that fell recently, the lives of the orphans was turned into torment as water got through the grass roof of their mud hut.

The children’s unemployed aunt, Suzan Kwinda (42), was recently forced to move in with her sister’s kids. She told Mirror : “I was forced to move in with them because there was no one to look after them. I also have six kids of my own and I was forced to distribute five of them to stay with relatives. I only came here with my eight-year-old son, Samuel. That does not solve any problem because I do not have any source of income to feed my sister’s kids. All of us are forced to sleep on the floor in one mud hut because we do not have a proper house and warm blankets…”

Mavis said her sister told her before her death that she had applied for a low-cost house, but nothing has been done so far.

“I need somebody to assist me in raising these kids because I want them to be educated and have a bright future. But they cannot even do their homework because I cannot even afford to recharge electricity for lights…”

To add fuel to the fire, one of the orphans, Rudzani, went to the local initiation school on his own, and Mavis says she does not have the R300 to pay the owners of the school.

“Life is tough in this family and sometimes we depend on sweet potatoes to keep our stomachs full …,” said Mavis.

The village’s traditional leader, Chief Ndidivhani Nyamande, said he was aware of the plight of the Thobo family. “I am prepared to assist the orphans because I know they are living below the poverty line. The children have all recently received birth certificates and I am trying to assist them in applying for a welfare grant. I appeal to Mirror readers to assist this poverty stricken family because their living conditions are devastating...”