I'm more than just the second wife

7

"The fact that she stands before us and addresses us dressed in pants is an insult!" Philani Ngema roared his face turning pink and he banged his hand on his pulpit making his papers fly all over the place. I along with everyone gathered here watched him as he made a fool of himself.

"If you're done throwing a tantrum over the clothes on my back Mr Ngema I'd like to continue." He didn't reply just picked up his papers and tried to maintain the tiny shred of dignity he still might have. "I have presented the statistics and reasons that support why Ntabenhle needs a high school and I do not ask for a monetary sponsor just resources from Zulu constructions & electrics for building material and electricity connections, Mathews IT Corp for computers, tabs, printers, copying machines and projectors, Van Rooyen Stationeries for stationary and desks and chairs and Ncube's Plumbing for pipe connections. I ask for these resources to assure you all that no money will be used for my benefit. I thank you all for your time." I ended with a smile, collected my documents and put them in my bag and waited for the verdict with a big confident smile.

I was having a meeting with sponsors. To get them to hopefully sponser the building of a high school in Ntabenhle, that's where my husband disposed of me 5 years ago in a 4 room house with a corrugated iron roof that leaked. The furniture was old and had water marks on it from the rain over the months or was it years that no one lived in it but he wouldn't know that because he and his wife stopped the car outside the gate, which was the only thing that was in decent condition in the place. The grass in the yard went up to my calf. I wouldn't be surprised if it was home to at least 3 snakes.

Zanda came with me. She screamed the house down when I attempted to leave without her. It was then concluded that she could come live with me. Yanda was not happy with this decision but since his wife made it abundantly clear that she didn't want her in her house he had no choice in the matter. She once again brought light into my life. She's the reason why I chose life 4 years ago, why I wanted to be a better person and build a better home for her, not just the house we lived in but the community as well. I soon learned that Ntabenhle was in need of so much improvement and needed someone to guide that I took on the role of the leader of that improvement. But first I needed to fix up my house. Luckily I had money I'd saved from my internship that hadn't gone to contributing to building and renovating my parent's home.

Zanda coughed and sneezed the whole night from the dust. I was livid with Yanda for leaving me with a child in such an unsanitary environment, the fact that he hadn't come in to check the state of the place still makes my blood boil. All they left me with was a card that had my monthly allowance. "There's R 5000 in there I'm sure it'll  be more than enough monthly." Nobuhle said in a snarky manner. They expected me and a child to live off of  that much? I never used that money for myself I used it to pay Zanda's school fees. I had her enrolled in a private  school in town, Corbin preparatory. Town is two hours away from Ntabenhle and 4 hours away from Yanda's home stead and 5 hours from mine. It was a strain to make the two hour trip twice a day 5 times a week but we made it work.

The day after our first night I made arrangements to get people to fix the damn roof before it rained and soaked us and our luggage in that place. I informed them that I needed it done as soon as possible but they said 4 days was the least they could work with. I now had to make arrangements to get to town, god knows how since I'm left without a car, and find a hotel for the time being. As I stood there watching the men work trying so hard not to scream in frustration at the situation and the people who not so subtly passed in front of the gate to see who the new neighbors are but wouldn't greet.

Finally one of them, a woman ,seemingly my age, with a baby strapped onto her back stood by the gate and waved at me shouting her greetings over the sounds of the equipment of the men working on the roof. I smiled and shouted back. She then saw that as an invitation to come in. She introduced herself as Simnikiwe Ndlovu and her son is Onami. We sat there chatting for hours and Onami and Zanda made quick friends. She offered that I stay at her house until the renovations at my house were done. I thanked her and made it a point to contribute to her living expenses and help with chores because I asked to extend our stay as I was basically reconstructing the whole house.