sucked and be sucked

Writer: Octavia Nkosi, Secunda Mpumalanga province, South Africa.
Sucking the sucker until getting sucked!
It all began with a smile, charm and rocking men like sweets in ones pocket. This is story of Alice, a girl with 3 children, living in our rural village area staying with her granny-a pensioner and relied on pension and subsistence garden and had little means. She was beautiful, loved by married man and sugar daddies, if you know what I mean. She was the talk of town and everybody marveled at how much she made her money, buying expensive clothes in Joburg, a city far beyond our border and the province, and she wears perfume that makes you think they are from another planet. On the contrary this wonderful woman had many viable talents; sewing, crouching, writing and god with kids, she never used.

We are from a rural setup in Mpumalanga, Secunda and we pride ourselves and take serious people who buy things in Joburg, the city of gold and Alice was no exception. Women live by fetching firewood in the forest, whilst at least household has water taps, and they live on subsistence gardening and farming and informal economic activities.
Women, like Dolly Parton lament and begging Joeline (Dolly in her song) to live her man and acknowledging she is like an angel and beautiful, Alice was begged in the same way, other women would even buy her gifts as a way of surrendering to her. She would in return laugh and mock them and sometimes feel pity for them and leave their men.
Little did she know that sucking the sucker!. When and whatever men she would date and sleep she was slowly getting exposed to various diseases and losing in the process her dignity and womanhood. Our village women has several meeting aimed discouraging her to live in harmony with other people. Instead she would disappear for Joburg for some time even a year, and come back vibrant, but this time she was starting to get thin and thinner by day, seemed sucked by the sucker, a vacuum cleaner if you know what I am talking about. When asked what was bothering her, she would say, ‘I am on a diet’, until she was noticed by a neighbor, queuing in local clinic in the section meant for people collecting ARV (HIV Pills). Since that on realizing she was being seen at the clinic, her life changed for better or worse!

She began a journey, never to return to her normal life, her pride tarnished and her dignity as a women tempered with, men started talking and gossip about her how she hovers and soared like an eagle to pounce and catch them as to sleep with, spread her breath of death unto them and how they are trying to run without much ado away from her. Alice beauty as she was, started to, like gold, loses its lustrum and sparks; she became a dull and least attractive person. Unfortunately a lot of her preys, she pounced whilst in her vigor, fell after, others died after her. They got sick and tested positive whilst she like a anaexoric ghost wailing in a chimney, she lingered on and lived more years and even today, posthumously, people talk about her in warning young girls and men to be carefully when it comes to love and choices issues. The worst thing is girls she hangs up with, are still alive and living a healthy life except they are not cute as she was. They used her for their own gains. They would go to shebens, taverns and bars, use her as exchange for beers and favors with males partners who were fancying Alice like Jolene in Dolly Parton’s relics, as they knew they were not cute compared to her.

The moral of the story is that sisters should, instead of being deceived by their looks and body, be careful of decision they make and take charge of their health and wellbeing and become example to upcoming youth. This is the only way we can reduce HIV/AIDS and dependence in our lives.