Every girl has a dream and every dream is different.
Phindile Sidu (34) has a dream of becoming a lawyer. A dream that has never died despite her circumstances.
Although the Daveyton resident hasn’t yet reached this goal, she plans to study further.
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Phindile was born in the Free State but moved to Daveyton when she was still in primary school.
“I have four siblings. An older brother and sister, and a younger brother and sister,” she explained.
“We all lived with my mother Pauline Sidu but she died when I was 16 years old.”
The death of her mother left Phindile’s older brother, Jan, responsible for the care of his siblings.
“Jan was 19 and he tried to look after us but it was very difficult for him,” she said.
“None of our family members offered to help us during this time and Jan had to leave school to work to support us.”
At the time, Phindile’s youngest sibling, Thandi, was only eight years old.
A neighbour took pity on the siblings and registered them as her foster children.
“We received about R800 in grant support for the four of us because Jan was older than 18,” Phindile explained.
“With that money, we bought groceries and what we needed for school.”
After about a year, a family member came to know about the siblings being registered as foster children.
“My aunt fought with the neighbour and wanted the money, so the neighbour stopped helping us and we were back to square one,” Phindile said.
“Jan then went in search of my father and was told that he had remarried but had died.”
According to Phindile, about R1 500 was kept aside for the siblings on behalf of their father but the money didn’t go far.
“We had bills to pay and we were still struggling so one of my uncles took Thandi.
“Jan started sniffing glue and refused to help us financially,” Phindile said.
“I needed a part-time job so I started working as a shop assistant in Benoni CBD and my sister Patricia’s friend taught me how to braid hair so I started doing that too.”
During this time, Phindile met her eldest son Nhlanhla’s father.
“I had to leave school in Grade 11 because I fell pregnant and after I had Nhlanhla, his dad supported me for about three years with R500,” she explained.
“I used that money to take care of my older sister and younger brother. Jan had died by this stage.”
In 2010, Phindile began work as a domestic worker in Rynfield and is still in this job today.
She has given birth to twins during the past eight years but remains a single mother.
“If given the opportunity, I will return to school, complete my matric and study to be a lawyer, or even a nurse if I cannot be a lawyer,” she said.
“It is not easy, but I advise other women to always trust God and when you feel like giving up, think about your children.”
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