At the young age of 23, Pertunia Moila she finds herself fighting a drug addiction, seeking shelter and fending for herself on the streets. She blames her current state on the decisions she made while she was still a teenager.

Moila was born and raised in Protea Glen, Soweto. She is the only girl and last born out of three brothers. Her and siblings primarily lived with their grandmother in a shack in Soweto. While they did not live with their mother, they would visit her at times.

She describes her upbringing as not so privileged, but fortunate that her family was able to provide where they could.

She did her early education at a Christian Boarding School in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng but was taken out after Grade 9.

Afrikaans was always the one subject that gave her a challenge and reflected poorly on her reports. After Grade 9, her uncle convinced her mother that she was wasting too much money paying for her fees when she was not performing well.

She was taken out of boarding school and enrolled in a public school in the township, travelling to and from school while still living with her grandmother.

At her new school in Soweto she got mixed up with the wrong crowd and made friends with groups that got in trouble and did drugs. She was smoking weed and ended up being suspended. Little did she know that would be the beginning of a very bad start to what would be a troublesome journey.

At the age of 15, she started getting arrested as a juvenile. However, instead of prison, she was taken to Walter Sisulu child and Youth Care Centre.

The first time she got arrested was for house-breaking, she stole jewellery and other small things. Her second arrest was another house-breaking, but this time, it was at her own home and her mother got her arrested. She later wanted to drop the case, but her brother convinced her it was necessary.

She understood that what she did was wrong, but the lack of sympathy from her family left her hurt her. Everything after that got worse. Her mother accused her of using Nyaope and took her to rehab.

Feeling like rehab was a waste of her time, while she could have focused on her exams in school, she started smoking nyaope upon her return.

“When I came back I wanted to prove her right and started smoking it. I did it to spite my mother, I did not think it would lead to an addiction.”

Moila describes herself as a person who bottles up her emotions.

“I'm not a person who shares a lot. There are things that I went through that my own mother does not even know about.”

She does not believe that they ever had a mother/daughter relationship. She was not even able to tell her when she got her first period. Asking for things from her mother was not something that came easy to her.

“I blame some of the things I went through in life on my mother. I am her only daughter, had I stayed with her maybe things would have been better. She never even taught me how to use sanitary pads.”

Feeling like she had to navigate through a lot of things in life as a young girl by herself, she wishes she had help. Some things about life that she is only learning now as she lives on the streets. With no place to call home, she knows she can’t rely on anybody but herself.

Growing up, her and her brothers had always lived with their grandmother. Her mother who did not live with them worked at Pikitup and provided financially where she could.

She did not speak to her mother a lot because she felt there was a lot of favouritism from her, when they would visit it was very evident to Moila who their mother liked the most.

“I was not expecting to receive all the love and I knew not everyone would love me the same, but there was always that one sibling who they showed more affection to.”

She has come to learn that people are always so judgemental towards people who live on the streets. It was not her dream to live the life she lives now. She has always dreamed of working in accounting.

Still hopeful of the future, she wants to go back to school and turn her life around. Only this time, she aims to make the right decisions.

IOL has embarked on a campaign called Elevate Her to highlight the plight of homeless women of South Africa. IOL is also collecting items for dignity packs to be distributed across the country. To get involved, email info@iol.co.za

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