Hi, I have eventually decided to get my butt into gear and write as back in those days doing it the "Typewriter" way would of taken too long..
This blog is about Surviving, challenges we faced, disappointment, Marriage, children, sticking together, and laughter..
Taken away by the welfare when I was only 11 years old...with my Sisters, very painful memory. Reason being my Mother drank and My father worked away to provide for the Family, and how the welfare found out , was I use to stay home and clean the house and sign my moms signature so nobody new she was gone (which is something she did often).
We have a step sister Bernie, wow what a Intelligent Person she was, stunning and so arty, very spoilt though by my mother. Then there was Me, yip the Mother Hen, which I was called so many times by my sisters , which is funny when I think about it. Helen after Me, Im telling you, she should of been my twin, but I will come back to this later..After Helen came the Other Twisted Sizter ! Penny, where she came from I have no idea :-) She is the crazy one that keeps us Laughing..and keeps us in the Crazy Zone. Deborah Came and contributed to the rainbow nation, not sure how many kids she has but she was also young to defend on her own,,her choices and still love her, and lastly Desiree who was adopted by a wonderful couple and now married and very happy.
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| Twisted Sizters |
We have grown up and faced so many challenges, cried many times and up building friendship, but what has made us strong is My Sisters, even though I wonder who let them out the Loony Bin at times they have been my strength, and I would be happy to Join them in the Loony Bin no Matter What..
If we look back at how we were brought up, in the homes, and think about how we were taken, and who we stayed with and met....being at William Clark Gardens was a wonderful Journey , we lived with people who were all in the same scenario as us, and made awesome friends who we are still friends with today.
My Mother...
Well this might take up my whole page and so much to write, but after reading our files when I went to South Africa on Holiday Penny and I met with the Social Worker and got permission to read our files, we had 6 big files, and were really excited..it was wow , No kidding ! and we laughed...but to our amazement did not realise how long the welfare had been on our track and in our lives...this was when my mother was pregnant with Bernadene , my step sister.
My Mom had been through foster care as well, and a real difficult life, but gave us alot of heartache, but as we grow older we learnt about her alcoholism and accepted it, she is still alive today and still plays catches and has this (sic) sense of humour which as passed on to us...but we love her still.
This Is My Mom, i think she is 67 now no 65 ahh in her late 60's !
So to get a Bigger idea of the Twisted Sizters Page..i will break it down, I only have some photos of my sisters...so we will start off with Bernadene...
Boy was she a bully, always wanting the good things in life hence we got all the hand me downs, if i had to hit her i would run because she would punish me 4x as hard.
Bernie had a Child at 18, Mandy, who was the cutest baby ever, the saddest part of this was to see history repeat itself, Bernie would hitch hike with Mandy to bars and sleep at random peoples places, and by this time I was 16yrs Old and still at William Clark Gardens and would demand that Mandy be taken away because of Bernadenes behaviour..
But back in those days probably still today they prefer the kid with the Mother , and work with the mother to provide a better life for the child.
When Mandy was 3 years old I had moved out and landed a job at Golden Hours Centre a center for Disability Children and loved it and that same year Met My wonderful Husband , whom I am married to still..but thats another Chapter..perhaps with the Heading ..Does the Meaning of Husband come with a Manual ???
Mandy would watch her Mother Drink and try and jump out the Window and she would be screaming or left alone with strangers...The Welfare eventually stepped in and found wonderful host parents Theresa Ameral and think Mandy would of had an exceptional life and upbringing, but because Bernadene would promise she will put her act together the Welfare took Mandy away from Amerals and back into her hands....Sad moment for me, as I felt this was wrong , not even a week later Mandy was left alone with Strangers..Bernadene did so many drugs and battered by her boyfriends , had 2 more girls Michelle and Bridgette , Michelle adopted and Bridgette Repeating Bernadine's history, how sad is that.
But ,,, I can say that Mandy has had no guidelines , no Mom No Father except us as family and has survived so many mountains and stayed positive, she has always been like a 2nd daughter to me and so very proud of her..
This Is my wonderful Mandy (Niece)
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| Ray Theron my Mothers ex Boyfriend, My dad then penny Blonde Bernie , Debbie and Mandy |
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| My Wonderful Amazing Niece Mandy |
I am in the Interim of trying to find her Sister Michelle who was adopted and hope come out with great results she needs some form of closure to see if she is ok.
As you can see Bernadene was stunning and believe it or not she is only 2 years older than me, its really scary how people are abused and how they take it as a Just the way life is or realistically move out as NO MAN should lift his hand to anyone...Bernadene has been beaten, Raped, and taken ALOT of drugs and alcohol. So sad to see Our Sister this way..we have never ignored her or forgotten her SHE IS OUR SISTER...and no matter what they have done or become..they are Family.
This is Bernadene..& Mandy, and even though Bernadene was never around for Mandy , Mandy still cares for her.
Me !
Me , well Im the one who hates seeing anyone hurt, always worry about my sisters as they are my world, they hated me when we were in the homes....Penny use to where black and I would shout at her and Helen...too and they ALWAYS use to shout You Not My Mother..!! lol we laugh about it so much ...
I have learnt so much at a Young age, very heart broken when my Dad passed away, who was the most wonderful man ever, whom i miss still today...
The funny thing is, If Penny or Helen is upset I sense it and ask ...and they would say I was just about to call ...Now this is where the Twins issue comes with helen, we are soo alike, only 1 year and 1 month apart...The One day i called her and said I have Tennis elbow on my right ..and she burst out laughing and she had it on her right...we EVEN have our periods at the same time..ok 80% of the time..
Was 18 and met my Husband..even though wanted the blonde sexy surfer...landed up with total opposite, rough looking Bouncer..from all the ex's that wanted to shag on the first night...Hubby surprisingly was not like that. Yet in his younger days shagged anything that moved, and if it did not he would kick it...thats what he would say:-)
23 years later and 2 wonderful kids later we have made it, ..How well wait for the next heading under Marriage!! which might take 2 months to write ha ha...
I decided to make a Homepage for William Clark Gardens starting off with us Twisted Sizters and landed up with 98..most of them still in contact with today and so glad to see them succeed in life and not go down a path to destructiveness.
Good Thing is too By Best Mate Barbs, whom i shared a room with at William Clark Gardens,,,disliked her cause she had these legs that just about touched heaven...well almost that is exaggerating abit..but long blonde hair too stunning chick, we still are best mates today and I introduced her Husband whom she is still married to today , so good to see that...
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| Achieving My Chines Cupping Certificate |
Helen......
Helen is the mmm I would say Union of this Family, fears nothing, very much like my Mom, also had a tough life, where she had to stand up for herself at a young age.
We went to Gold Reef City Once in Johannesburg, and having a ball and this Kid pulled a tongue at Helen and Of course helen has no shame...ha ha she tells this kid off that its rude etc, and this kid pulls a tongue again..no problem helen goes up to this kid and smacks him, he cried so loud We look at each other and Ran...man oh man , it was funny at the time..
I do wish i was like her sometimes cause shes very open and says it like it is..me i walk away cause im hurt walk to be calm..
Helen is my rock too we talk every day, and husbands and kids and general stuff..
This is my amazing twin sister 1 year 1 month later...which always use to argue and say Why cant i come home same time as Monica, Im only 1 Year 1 Month Younger...pfff get over it woman lol
Penny........where do i begin with this Woman..
Penny is the glue to this family...has the sickest sense of humour and comes up with Random videos and photos..and most importantly hates been left out...
for Instance Penny and Hubby met us in Bali and had soooo much fun, Helen and I would take a photo and In Penny would Jump we would go swimming and Penny would jump in and make sure she is in the middle,,,lol never laughed so much in all my life...50% of the photos had Pennys big fat head in,,,or just popping over someones head...
She lives so far and miss her so much.
We would all congregate and see what we can do with the kids and how we can trick them...for instance we landed up putting powder in my daughters hairdryer and as she switched it on, she had this white face...we peed ourselves ..or we would put all the kids up and ask them what a word means and it was so funny hearing what they came up with.
She is an amazing mom who always has humour...in her family.....
I personally think she needs a stray jacket every day...but thats just my opinion..lol
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| Penny..Sorry but this is the only one i could find i will replace it when i find a nice one hahah |
Then we come to Debbie
Debbie is a sad story as my Dad passed away and basically when he died Debbie got lost and decided to go on her own, as helen looked after her and tried to make her independent, but landed up doing her own thing, we have never judged her, she is our sister, and even though she has contributed to the rainbow nation, we still talk to her and support her where we can...like perhaps invest in condoms.
Debbie has tried to find herself...pic 1 is her so nice pic 2 well ahhh not sure about that one..lol
Desiree
Desi was the lucky one and adopted by wonderful people, and had an amazing life and we could not of asked for better parents than what she has now.
Thats if for now...butt getting numb oh and gotta feed the other child...adios from Twisted Sisterz!
This is Desi's wonderful parents who took her in and love them to bits
My sweet Sis ..
We were in a childrens home called William Clark Gardens and wish i had the money to help them out. From what it looks like now compared to when we were there is really sad.
I remember Helen, Penny and myself volunteered as the staff went on strike due to a pay dispute, and here you have small children as young as 3 in the cottages.
We landed up taking sweets and food and we helped bath as there were no lights, as they had no bulbs on and kids were crying because it was dark.
After putting these kids in bed, and when we were there we were all white children and now they were all different races. As we were leaving we had kids clinging to our legs to take them home it was very sad, and it broke our hearts.
Now back in our days we had cottages 1 to 9 had houseparents and all different ages in each cottage.
As we were the teens in most cottages we had to get up and make the porridge and toast for the little ones and we received pocket money and had our chores so it was mostly good at times.
I remember my best mate Barbara who we are still good friends with use ti break in the Pantry where all the food was and steal food just to give to our parents but we all stuck up for each other and my facebook page has really grown and so good to see most of them what were with us at that time.
We also had issues where the houseparents friends would try and kiss us when nobody was there and we would push them away as they would be like 10 years older than us who could we tell NO ONE! if we told our houseparents it would be like well you shouldn't of worn your pj shorts or we provoked it, I mean really and alot of stuff did happen and nothing was done,,,,,who would they believe. But that is the past and I don't let the past damage my Integrity and Who I am...!
My best memories were at the Homes with amazing people and still friends today and sometimes I think if it was not for them I wonder where or what I would be today as well,
this is where we lived, it is good to see that this is still going because William Clark Gardens is a Safe Place for Children and they need every bit of protection they can get.
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| Best place to be |
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| This is Me (how is the hairstyle) and good friend Tini and friend |
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| What the cottages look like |
27th December 2013
To date we have 99 members and proud to see that some of them were the "newie" Homies when it was first built.
We have opportunities to view out files and found it for us interesting and some have not taken the opportunity to read there files...as some of them did not want to view there past or it was too painful or scared to see or bring up bad memories.
We all have different ways of coping with our memories and scars and some have not gotten over what has happened and scarred way too much and wish I could fix them but unless they deal with there own issues and sort it our in the best way they can they will come by.
I have noticed that some children got adopted by houseparents and they (the houseparents) have got divorced and it has affected that adoptee!
Yet we here stories and what others say, but we were not there and dont know what some of them have gone through.
I do believe Childrens Homes are there for a reason to keep you safe, safe from the beatings and alcholism and drugs and to name a few.
I tend to watch a program called "Missing" when children have been removed and split up and how they were beaten up from there foster people or cained in the homes.
I here again would say I WISH I COULD SAVE EVERYONE....but one thing we can do is to make our lives better than the one we had by respecting those around us, and giving our children all our love and never go to bed without saying I LOVE YOU. We can only direct them to do the best of there ability and once they grown up...you will see you have done a good job.
So Keep your head up high No matter what outcomes you have survived and challenged We are the ONLY ones that can make it better , dont live on the past but move forward to successfully making your FAMILY your everything.
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