1. 40 THE AFRICAN PA Magazine | May 2016
By Matshego Rawula, South Africa
T
LAST WORD
Tomorrow
is not
promised
he good book in Mathew
eludes to this fact. “So
don’t worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow
will bring its own worries, Today’s
trouble is enough for today”
Mathew 6:34. This for me
was further validated by a horrific
incident that occurred on the 18th
of April 2015. It was a Sabbath
afternoon and we were having a
normal Sabbath afternoon
programme.
I remember it was evangelism day,
when a young man came to our
worship site asking if we had seen
a three year old boy walking
around that area. He saw kids
playing close to our hall and
thought maybe he had gone to
play with them. Upon hearing
these news the church cancelled
the programme and every single
person went searching for Sihle,
the little boy. There had been a
party at his aunt’s place, it was a
kid’s party. There were lots of kids
playing outside, everyone
assumed he was playing with the
other children. His mother only
realised a bit later on that he was
not with the other kids.
The church as well as Centurion
citizens searched tirelessly for
Sihle. The older kids who stayed
behind formed a big circle and
started praying for his safe return.
Authorities were alerted and were
now also looking. Word came from
a garage close by that petrol
attendants had seen him
wondering around the petrol
station, some say a man came and
took him, some said he just
wondered off. There was a lot of
confusion. We had to continue
searching.
The search party continued well
into the night but there was no
trace of Sihle. The petrol attendee’s
story also had a lot of holes in it as
one wondered how grown men
and women would let a three-year
-old wander off on his own and
not call the police or something
to that effect. All of these
questions didn't matter at this
point as Sihle was still missing.
We went home broken hearted.
I could only imagine what Sihle’s
family and his mom was going
through as I also had a three
year old, but mine was tucked
away safely in his bed. I went
home andheld him so tight and
continued praying for Sihle.
My husband woke me up at
around 4 am the next morning
telling me he received news that
Sihle had been found, my joy was
short lived as he was found dead.
He drowned in a pond in the
property he had initially gone
missing in. My heart sank. The
petrol agent’s story was just that,
a story. Sihle never left the
premises. He went to play in the
back yard alone, he fell into the
pond and drowned.
We woke up and headed to the
house to conduct a prayer. When
we got there the mood was very
sombre, there was silent weeping,
an occasional wail now and then.
The women from our church were
asked to go inside the house to
comfort Sihle’s mom. We
reluctantly went in, as we moved
closer I shocked by the sight of
this woman calmly laying on the
floor hugging what seemed like a
blanket. I decided to stay back, I
couldn’t be in her presence. We
later found out that the reason
why she was so calm was because
she had been holding the lifeless
body of her son, wrapped in a
blanket. I will never forget that
sight. It completely broke my
heart. She had apparently been
sitting in that position since they
found his body at 4 am, it was
now around 8 and the body had
to be taken away to the mortuary.
She wailed. This was arguably one
of the worst days I have had to
live. This woman’s pain was
tangible.
Just a few days ago was the
anniversary of this very
unfortunate event, and the church
went to visit the family. They were
smiling this time around, very
thankful for what the church and
the community did a year ago.
Sihle’s mom still had sadness in
her eyes, I again avoided contact
with her as I had no idea what to
say to her. This led me to realise
that we don’t know what
tomorrow holds. It is not
promised. Today I will hug my kids
tightly before I go to work, I will
kiss my husband meaningfully
when he drops me off at work, I will
call my parents and find out how
they are doing as I don’t know if this
opportunity will be afforded to me
tomorrow. Live everyday with
meaning.