Longing For Shelter And Food

Life has dealt them blow after blow but giving up is not in the cards, they say. The Pelontle family consists of 13 people, two mothers and 11 children. The mothers, who are sisters, say that they are the only adults left in the family.

Their situation is so extreme such that Monitor reporters had to meet with them at someone else's yard because at the moment they are homeless. Agnes and Galethuse Pelontle are struggling to raise 11 children between them without a single thebe and no home. Agnes is the stronger of the two and the responsibility lies solely on her, as her sister has been sick for several years now. Even though they cannot be said to have been better off at some stage, Pelontle's situation worsened when their two huts collapsed on them earlier this year. "We were inside one of the huts with the children when the huts collapsed. Our property was damaged and we had to move some of our stuff to the neighbours," she said.