Living With Granny

One of the most important and potentially heartrending decisions many mothers have to make is who will take care of their child when they go back to work. Family care is a common South African solution, and comes with its own set of benefits and challenges.

- Tracey Hawthorne

For Thelma Nkenene, packing her bags in Langa, Cape Town, in preparation for journeying to the Eastern Cape isn’t just a matter of looking forward to a well-earned rest at the end of a year of hard work. The three weeks she spends each December in her home village near Makhanda is the only time this 33-year old mother of three gets to see two of her children.

Thelma, like many South African women, works full time to support her family, sending money to her mother every month to feed, clothe and educate her older children.

Her 18-month-old baby is currently cared for by a day mother while Thelma works in the housekeeping department of a big city hotel – but he too will go home to his granny in a year or so’s time.

“My kids weren’t safe in Langa where I live,” Thelma says of the decision to send the older ones home to the Eastern Cape to be cared for by their grandmother. “I wanted them to stay locked inside all afternoon after school until I got home, but they got bored and wandered the streets. I was worried about them all the time.” Thelma’s mother is still young and fit, and she loves having her grandchildren live with her.

It’s a very close-knit community where there’s a lot of support. Thelma’s two grown-up sisters live with their mother too, and the children are thriving.

IT TAKES A VILLAGE