MEET MY FRIEND

Aphimelele Mdlalane

A 21 year old beautiful, intelligent, optimistic and independent young Xhosa woman ‘Aphumelele Mdlalane’ was adopted by a big happy family in Queen’s Town. Aphumelele was the youngest child of 6 and the only adopted kid in her home, she was adopted when she was 4 years old after a tragic accident that took away her loving parents. Aphumelele tells her story, “Adoption has always been considered as a raw deal but my experience proved this to be wrong. I grew up as a happy child with loving siblings and parents who never in any way made me feel anything like an adopted child. I went to a good school, had everything a happy child could ever ask for.” She lost her adoptive mother in 2009 while she was doing her matric and the following year she lost her father and two brothers due to a car accident. She said that after everything she went through in life- losing both her biological and adoptive parent - she still sees a blessing in every challenge she faces in life. She said that after losing her parents, she had to learn to live independently, to be responsible and take life as it comes. She is now doing her final year in Media and Journalism at the University of the Free State. She is a very good friend and a loving sister. She wishes to have two kids that she can give the same love and more support that her parents gave her.