1.

Fill in the blanks with words from the list

disease/ knocking/ empty/ plight/ daunting/ blamed

SA's parentless families: A beggar's life

Many thousands of South African children live in homes with no

parents, largely as a result of HIV/Aids. Life is desperate for the
children left at the head of their families.
At the age of 10, Nokubonga Qaba was left with the …………………………..
responsibility of raising her four younger siblings in a remote village in
Eastern Cape Province. Now aged 17, she says her family knows the pain of
going to bed on an ……………………… stomach all too well. "Sometimes there is
no food in the house for days and I have to go ……………………… on neighbours'
doors begging for food for my family," she says. "Sometimes they give,
sometimes they don't."
Her ……………………. is not unique in South Africa. About 150,000 youngsters
are raised by other children after their parents die. Many of the deaths are
………………………… on Aids-related illnesses - South Africa has the highest
prevalence of the……………………… anywhere in the world.
2/write the correct tense /form
Poverty line
Nokubonga's parents (die)…………………. from tuberculosis in 2002 leaving her
and her siblings in the care of their (ail)……………………. grandmother. When
her grandmother died in 2004, Nokubonga assumed the role of mother,
father and sister.
"We lived on grandmother's pension money, which wasn't a lot, so when she
also died our lives took a turn for the (bad)…………………….," she says.
With her siblings - and now her own one-week-old son - to look after, her
days start at 04:00 with a walk of at least 12km (seven miles) from their
village mud-hut to collect firewood and clean water.
"It gets so cold in the morning sometimes that my entire body goes numb
and I can (hard)…………………….. walk," she says.
"It's not easy at all, but I know I have to do it. I need the water to cook
porridge for us and the rest so we can bath." Her brothers and sister all call
her mama. They (be)……………………. between two and seven years old when
their parents died, and their (reality)………………………. mother and father are a
faded memory. In the family home all six children huddle around a fire made
on the floor in the main room of the house - which serves as a kitchen and
the lounge. Rusty pots ( pile up)……………….. on a table in the corner along
with plastic plates.
There appears to be little or no food in the house. "It wasn't always like this,"
Nokubonga says. "When our parents were still alive we didn't have to worry
about a lot of things. Food, clothes and money to go to school... things were
(easy)……………………."
Ambition undimmed
When her grandmother died she (help)………………………….. by a non-
governmental organisation in the nearby town of Lusikisiki to negotiate a
government grant. Reverend Mthimkulu Msikinya, head of the Lusikisiki Child
Abuse Resource Centre, says most of the families still live in (despair)
………………………… poverty despite the allowance.
"We help where we can but in the end a grant can only do so much," he
says. The town has seen a (rise)………………………. number of households where
children bring up other children, he says.
"Diseases such as HIV/Aids have had an enormous impact in the number of
children who are (orphan)……………………..and left having to fend for
themselves," he says. Nokubonga does not get any financial help from the
father of her baby - he is still in school and his family, like hers and many
others in Eastern Cape Province, (live)………………………. from hand to mouth.
She receives 650 rand ($87; £53) of foster grant every month, but this does
not go far in a country (battle)……………………. a recession and soaring food
prices. "Sometimes the money gets finished in the middle of the month and
we run out of food," she says. She has an older sister, 23-year-old Zodwa,
who does not live with them but sends a small amount of money when she
has been able to land part-time work. Nokubonga (return)………………………to
classes in 2007, when they began receiving the grant - but there is not
enough money for them all to attend.
She hopes to get her younger sister Zanele, who is looking after the baby
during the day, back into school next year and her brothers after that.
Despite all the (hard)………………….. Nokubonga is determined to persevere
with her school work and she wants to become a social (work)……………...
In the meantime, she survives on grants, food parcels and old clothes
(donate)…………………….. by the community, trying to give her brothers and
sister an easier life than she has had.