Olga

I have just found TOTALLY OPTIONAL PROMPTS

totallyoptionalprompts.blogspot.com

They ask for a comment on a photograph, This one is heartfelt.

I like to think Olga may hear about this piece but it is probably too much to hope for.

OLGA.

She shares her lineage

 With the President of the United States.

But when I knew her,

In South Africa,

Over thirty years ago,

She was a non-person,

A 'coloured'.

Her name was Olga.

And she was my 'char'.

But, first and foremost,

She was a Mother.

Still in her twenties,

She had several children,

And she lived in a shack

In 'the Coloured Area.'

I was guilty of thinking

That this was normal!

When she came to 'do' for me, 

She brought Wendy with her.

Wendy was her latest child, 

But not, I'm sure,

Her last.

My two young children loved Wendy.

She was so pretty, so placid,

So pleasant to cuddle.

In the end

The 'wrongness' of South Africa

Impressed itself upon us.

We prepared to leave.

On the last day Olga came to me.

'Please take Wendy with you, Madam.'

I couldn't believe my ears!

I knew she adored her baby.

I remonstrated with her.

'You couldn't give Wendy away, Olga!'

I explained to her.

'It wouldn't be allowed, Olga!'

She cried then.

'But her life in Australia

Would be so much better.'

Her unselfishness impressed me mightily.

I have thought of it, often.

Wendy!

Are you a smart young thirty-something

Working in Capetown

At a high-powered job?

Have you a computer?

Is there the slightest chance

That you may ever read this?

If you do,

You will read of a wonderful Mother.

And she is yours.