My Grandmother was a very spiritual person, we went to church religiously and made our daily prayers. My grandmother also had a gift I grew to understand later on, now before I continue I need to emphasize the importance of an open mind when you read this, I wasn't raised to see things through tunnel vision but to look at any possiblility and acknowledge the impossible (by Society's terms). I was born Xhosa but raised very Western so I wasn't too exposed to Cultural events as my grandmother stopped practicing them at some point and it stuck. My gran used to tell me stories of her history, her family's history and the spiritual attachment to it, some of these stories seemed a bit far-fetched for me but I finally got my chance to experience the part of life not many chose to explore or talk about.
My grandmother was born in 1932 and her mother passed away giving birth to her,she was the only child of her mother and father, she was raised with family members and wanted to become a nurse from an early age but unfortunately due to a lack of money and support she decided to start working. At some point in my grans life she ended up staying at District 6, by this time she was already married to my grandfather and had her first child, from what she used to tell me life for her was blissful and care-free during the District 6 days, until they were removed and had to find an alternative. My grandmother was the one who alwaysput food on the table and my grandfather used to reap the benefits of having money go straight to him. In the olden days men used to physically "discipline" their wives and my grandmother was no exception, the man had a temper of note and a hand that beat till you bled, my aunts and uncles were subject to his physical abuse. My grandfather was a highly intelligent man who could've been an Attorney if he wanted, he was into Politics and stuck to being a certain Political Party's book-keeper but during the raids he decided to burn all traces of his work and kept a low profile. My grandfather was also a ladies man, mostly admired for his looks and height (he was extremely tall and therefore nicknamed "Tall-Man") and he was such a sweet charmer to the ladies that they couldn't resist, he also dabbled in music and played the Saxophone. He and my grandmother met in a jazz club on one of the days his band performed and he took one look at her and knew he wanted to marry her, of course my gran was young and impressionable at that time so she didn't know any better, the man was known for being such a player but she fell for him and he for her and so began their journey together.
From a very young age my grandmother used to get "visions" or "dreams" that used to disturb her, some were of people dying or some were forewarnings, as she explained to me her family come from a lineage of people who could see things and she had been bestowed the gift, however in those days it was either church or culture and she chose church, it was believed that if you went to church it would suppress the visions and your way would be clear, also known as refusing the gift.
In her many years married to my grandfather she worked hard and long,sometimes working sleep-in jobs and sending money home or to her relatives where the rest of her children lived and being that it was during Apartheid times she told me it was hard but she made it work. In these times away from home my grandfathers eye tended to wander and one day it found it's target, another woman.
The day that my grandfather left my grandmother he packed his suitcase, had a car waiting outside with the "other woman" in it, he was busy telling my grandmother that he wanted to move out and make a life with this woman but that he'd leave the kids with her and she'd have to fend for herself. The day he walked out he never turned back and neither did my gran and so began her uphill battle alone, an older woman and to some degree bruised from all the years of abuse and emotional battle. In the coming years after that my grandmother never re-married, never fell in love again and ended up dedicating her life to her children and soon enough to a little baby boy who was born in 1988.
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