My name is Katie Mwamadi, I was born in 2002. My grandmother told me that my father died before I was born, my mother died when I was three.
I have lived for 2 years with my grandmother. After that, a sister of my mother picked me up and took me to her home. I went to primary school and she was nice to me, but after a year they began to beat me. Also I got only lunch while her daughter to eat three times a day and had nice new clothes, I got nothing.
One day I came home from school and asked her for food, but she said: “forget it.” Then I decided to go back to my grandmother and I walked for 6 hours. I found my grandmother in the garden, so she asked me why I came back and I told her what had happened. My grandfather said,: "Thank you God that you protect this child".
After four years, my aunt came to pick me up again because my grandmother was too poor to care for me. So I went back to school. After three months, my aunt was transferred for her work from Dedza to Nkhoma. She left me behind in Dedza without food or money. The landlord shouted at me because my aunt had not paid the rent, he wanted all my clothes. After a week, my aunt came to pick me up but she hit me a lot.
I did a test at primary school and succeeded. Then I went to high school. After a month I stopped because my aunt did not pay the fees. I asked my aunt for school money, but she said "no money for you". However for her own children she did pay school fees. After a while she went back to the village and left me two weeks behind in Nkhoma without food or money. She took only her own kids. When she came back she told me she was transferred again, this time from Nkhoma to Blantyre. She left me behind again and took her own children to Blantyre. She left me without anything.
But now my life is good because Nicole has taken me into her house. Everything is OK, also school.
