Lindiwe Tsotetsi of Ext 6 in Standerton gathers her chick
Lindiwe carefully removed her from the broken shell and wrapped the foundling in a blanket.
A single mom from Ext 6 turned midwife in April this year, albeit for the ‘birth’ of a chick.
Ms Lindiwe Tsotetsi heard the plaintive cries one evening and realised something was up.
The hen laid 14 eggs, left three to their own devices, of which Tswitswe, was one.
“Tswitswe was crying and about to die,” Lindiwe said. She named her after the sounds emanating from the tiny, vocal chords.
Lindiwe carefully removed her from the broken shell and wrapped the foundling in a blanket.
“I now have a chicken-child as well,” she said. The chick was brought up in the household and the term no longer applies.
She has already laid eggs on the cabinet in the kitchen, of which three chicks survived.
“She even drinks tea and my daughter, Nikiwe is attached to her as well.”
Lindiwe is a graduate of the Vaal University of Technology and completed an advanced diploma in her subject, policing.
“I would like to be a police officer,” Lindiwe said.
She has applied to the police force in the past for a position and the reasoning centres on her assessment of South Africa.
“I am worried about my country and would like to help,” she added.
This youngest daughter of a family of seven arrived in Standerton, from Daggakraal, in 1998.
She attended Jandrell Secondary School before spreading her wings.
Lindiwe decided on a furniture-making programme at the Skills Academy of the Gert Sibande College in her quest for fulfillment.
In the meantime, the household is filled with activities such as making sure the chickens are fed, Nikiwe has done her homework and taking the dogs for a walk.
