It was the summer of 1957/1958.It was also the summer before l went to primary, or as we called it, big school.Nursery schools as we know it today, were almost unheard of and my mother prepared us for school herself.So when we started grade 1, we were able to write our names, count up to twenty and colour in beautifull pictures,or so she told everybody that would listen.

My green uniform, new school shoes, very white socks and shirt plus a white panama hat were ready.I had a rather small rectangular, brown suitcase in which there was one excercise book,pencil, sharpener, crayons and a ruler. Mommy had saved me a striped toffee tin with the picture of a grey kitten on it’s lid for a lunch box

I was so proud, just a little afraid, to join my elder brother when the big day canme around on that first day of school in January.

The apricot season was over, but the huge tree in the backyard still provided wonderful shade to play in. My elder brother, Will’ was adamant that l should be able to play hopscotch ( it was all the rage that summer) and he took it on himself to teach me even if it was only a girl’s game!

But all was not well with the world..

I could see that my moyher was terribly worried about something. Dad was grave, serious. We stayed away from him when he was like that, knowing he had some problem to deal with. My parents were carrying some burden that we were not supposed to know about..Even when he listened to the news on the radio,he dicouraged us by turning the volume very low. This was strange for he always wanted us to listen with him.

But soon we heard murmered rumours: words like polio, no cure, paralized and talk of Steven could be heard.

Steven was a young man in long grey flannels who walked on crutches. When I asked my mom about him,she became very sad:” He was very ill, is lucky to be alive..”

His sister,Judith was in highschool and she always hovered around him, as if to protect him. when he went for a walk. He survived the dreaded disease’ polio. The adults said he even was in the iron lung.

The worry, anxiety in the neighbourhood reached fever pitch when the news that a vaccine in the form of injections ,was developed. An innoculation drive run by the government was started not long after that. My parents were agonizing about the safety of the vaccine.

I was afraid of injections , but even then I knew I did not want to die. I wanted to wear my pretty, new, uniform learn to read and make new friends.

In the end hundreds of kids of kids, including us , went to a big hall in the town of Randfontein and got the polio vaccine, There were long rows of somber people with children waiting, speaking quietly. Apparently the polio had become an epidemic.

I felt uneasy, scared and it was not just the inections or the disease that troubled me,, It was some illusive thouht or fact, as if had forgotten something important that troubled me.

After all the drama, the smell of hospital,the fleeting sting in my left arm, children crying and the relief of it being over
that it became clear..

As we wre driving home we passed a big bus full of black people. I wondered why there were only white people at the hall, Were black children getting these injections! Or were they left to die? Maybe they did not get Polio? Too many questions with no answers…