Kaffir Boy Suffering Quotes

"Why don't you get a job and help me keep your brothers and sisters in school, my child?" my mother said to me one evening.

I looked at her. She appeared exhausted, no doubt from being worked like a mule by white people: she washed and ironed for them, cleaned their homes, weeded their gardens, washed and fed their children and catered to their every whim. Even when she was ill she had hobbled to work, even when any of my siblings was ill she had gone to work, reluctantly. We had to eat, she would say, we had to have books and school fees, we had to pay rent, we had to have bribes for the policemen. She had recently been diagnosed a diabetic, and told to watch her diet, not to worry too much, not to work too hard. But she continued working too hard and worrying too much. There was no doubt she was suffering, yet she remained upbeat, downplaying everything with a shrug and saying, "Any caring mother would do all that and more for her children."

I began to feel guilty for being selfish, for thinking too much of myself and tennis. If I got a job, I could help tremendously. I could take the burden off my mother's shoulders and repay her for all she had done for me by making the rest of her life comfortable. (53.73-75)