In the 1980s I was teaching at the Kwa-Sibonda CP school in Empangeni. The school is situated in a rural area.
One day, my colleague, Miss Muthwa, who teaches Grade 1, and I, who taught Grade 2, were in the hall with our classes, practising Song of the Mountain, which we had to sing at a choir competition.
It was after lunch and very hot.
While we were busy practising, a Grade 2 girl came to us, saying that she was not feeling well.
She was wet with perspiration and gasping for air. She complained about stomach ache.
We told her to go and drink water and lie down under the big tree. It was an old habit of the school to let sick children lie under the tree, so we did not take the case seriously, since we knew children usually got better after lying under the tree.
After the hard work of rehearsing, we dismissed the children and went home. We completely forgot about the sick child.
The next morning the principal came to my class, accompanied by the mother of the sick child.
She was looking for her daughter who did not come home after school the previous day.
I immediately remembered what had happened and was paralysed with panic.
Together we went to the big tree, which was far from the classes, hidden by buildings and away from the main entrance.
We found the dead girl lying under the tree. The grass was long and dense, which made it difficult for her to be seen.
I was devastated.
The sharp cry of the mother brought all the teachers and children to the scene.We were all crying.
The principal used a public telephone to arrange for a hearse. Other family members were told and they came rushing to the school.
After calming down, the mother was very understanding.
She told us that her late husband told her in a dream the previous week that he would come and fetch their daughter, because she was sickly and in terrible pain. Her husband’s spirit told her the girl was being poisoned by her grandmother. So she knew her daughter was going to die.
The school took responsibility for the funeral.
This experience taught me a hard lesson. I will never again leave a sick child unattended.
But we learn through the mistakes we make.
I write this letter to tell other teachers who are teaching at disadvantaged schools in rural areas far from hospitals and clinics not to make the same mistake I made.