Short, thin and malnourished; Tom Nkosi had never been the
kind of kid that anyone liked to play with. He was shy, dirty and, above needy,
something that had earned him a bad reputation amongst the neighbourhood
children. Born into a home without a father, he had grown up with a mother who
preyed on men on a daily basis to stay alive, abusing alcohol like it was her
life support. She was wrecked, in every sense of the word, but one thing she
remained sure about in her life was her love for her only son. Tom was all she
had in life and she loved and cherished him deeply, the way a mother was
supposed to. When she passed away from a kidney failure, Tom was left stranded
in the world, with nowhere to go and no one to turn to.
Alexander House Children’s Home was nothing close to
luxurious. With about fifty children being catered for by money that could
barely keep one suburban child going, it was only a call away from being shut
down. When Tom arrived, he wasn’t treated any differently from the children who
had been there all their lives. He got the same food, same set of rules and no
grace period to learn anything. Life had admittedly taken a worse turn, if he
was going to be truthful. Two months passed by before he started making any
actual friends. Tapiwa, Joe and Bill were the kids feared by everyone in the
Home, and when they took notice of Tom, he didn’t have much of a choice but to
join into the clique.
The friends that Tom had made were the kind of friends who
looked out for each other. They were a family in their own right and they stuck
by each other through thick and thin. By the time that Tom was sixteen, he was
no longer a shy boy. He was a feared individual who lived and preyed on others’
fear of him. It wasn’t long before he got attached to alcohol and drugs. Every
chance he got, him and his friends would steal money and waste it away on
alcohol and girls for a good time. They were caught, several times, and
punished but nothing seemed to slow them down, but when Tom turned eighteen, he
was faced with the same problem his mother had encountered.
Tom had a failing kidney. Donors were looked for to try and
save his life, but no help was coming his way. He was at the bottom of the
list, with at least a hundred other patients before him waiting for the same
organ. In the weeks that followed, Tom suffered immensely and he couldn’t help
but think about the times that he had seen his mother suffering from the same
thing. His brothers kept the faith alive for him, praying for his recovery, but
Tom knew that the end was nearing, and it was coming soon. Tom had entered into
a broken world, and at a young age, he left the world the same way that he had
found it.
Sibo
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