I cannot shake this story from my mind. A little innocent girl has been failed by her government, her community, once again. This is not the first time that a child has drowned in a pit latrine here in South Africa, sad to say. At times like these, you can only but believe in a heavenly ever after, where these innocent souls get to shine and forget about the harsh world they were born into, and their tragedy upon leaving.

This time last week a search party was formed to search for a missing girl 5-year-old from the Eastern Cape. Lumka Mthethwa was a grade R student at a rural government school. After failing to return to her class Monday last week, after requesting permission to go to the toilet‚ parents, family and friends gathered frantically to find their loved one. But the end of this story is one that I would not wish upon anyone.

The lifeless body of Lumka was found a day later at the bottom of a pit latrine. Police say she had fallen in and was left to drown. A freak accident, that happens more often in rural townships than we think. 

South Africa’s Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga had the following to say:

"The death of a child in such an undignified manner is completely unacceptable‚ and incredibly disturbing. I would like to send my sincere condolences to the family of our Lumka Mthethwa‚ who passed away tragically.”

The questions arise however as to why such a young learner was allowed to attend an outdoor lavatory on her own in the first place. Where was her teacher and why did it take so long for someone to realise she was missing? Why on earth do these government schools still not have proper toilet facilities? 

The Department of Basic Education responded that it was doing "everything in its capacity" to address backlogs timeously, by prioritising unsafe structures and those without decent sanitation, electricity and water. This contradicts the fact that the Eastern Cape has already exhausted its maintenance budget – so how long do our children have to wait, how long do we have to sit at work wondering if our kids are in fact being cared for?

Of course, the family of the deceased and her schoolmates are devastated, our country mourns the death of this little girl and the way in which she passed away. Counsellors have been sent to console all involved and assist them through this traumatising occurrence. But will this be enough, will this ever be enough?

My thoughts and prayers are with Lukma’s loved ones and I can only hope that educators and politicians will take more responsibility for their actions, that corruption ends so that we can give our students a proper toilet to sit on while they place their rear ends on thrones of gold. 

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Source link: https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/eastern-cape-girls-body-lay-in-school-pit-toilet-overnight-20180315

Much love - @sweetpea

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