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Chain Reaction
Ntataiseng is a fourteen-year-old girl who is preoccupied with school, friends and boys. She is ambitious but cautious. Her life was quite normal until her mother fell ill suddenly. She had to take a break from her schooling in order to become a wife to her father and a mother to her two younger siblings.
Kutloisiso, her brother, is a charming and responsible younger brother who does his chores without much protest. Thatohatsi, the baby of the family, is an eight-year-old prima donna. She won’t do anything without a fight. She tries her sister’s patience.
Their father is a man who has parented from the shadows, letting his wife do all the rearing and disciplining. He was content to live this way until that fateful day when his wife fell ill and left him to raise the children alone. When he denies his daughter a once-in-a-lifetime chance, he is unprepared for the chain reaction events that follows this decision.
Dramatic events unfold during the days leading up to the funeral and a fight ensues between father and daughter, resulting in a separation. Her grandmother is draconian, but Ntataiseng’s pride will not let her go back home, because then her father wins.
Follow their turbulent journey as they each find a way to cope with their loss and carry on with their lives.
Kutloisiso, her brother, is a charming and responsible younger brother who does his chores without much protest. Thatohatsi, the baby of the family, is an eight-year-old prima donna. She won’t do anything without a fight. She tries her sister’s patience.
Their father is a man who has parented from the shadows, letting his wife do all the rearing and disciplining. He was content to live this way until that fateful day when his wife fell ill and left him to raise the children alone. When he denies his daughter a once-in-a-lifetime chance, he is unprepared for the chain reaction events that follows this decision.
Dramatic events unfold during the days leading up to the funeral and a fight ensues between father and daughter, resulting in a separation. Her grandmother is draconian, but Ntataiseng’s pride will not let her go back home, because then her father wins.
Follow their turbulent journey as they each find a way to cope with their loss and carry on with their lives.
110 pages, Paperback
Published April 30, 2021
2 people want to read
About the author
Tumelo Moleleki
21 books64 followersI am a #selfpublished author of 15 books
Growing up, I played diketo and made toys with clay. I played with both sexes, when minding the cattle I would play boys games and when fetching water or firewood or doing laundry down the ravine I would play girls games. I was born in the now Gauteng province but being a black person, I was not allowed to be registered as having been born there so I was registered as having been born in the district of Mount Fletcher.
I had a normal childhood for one raised in the bundus and I loved my life. My grandmother is my mother and my mother is my sister, that is how it was and that is how it remains in my psyche.
I started school at the age of 5, my best friends were my cousin and a girl who lived with my aunt-in-law.
My grandmother was rather strict, did not like us going to people's homes, even relatives. She was so dignified, everyone in the village respected her in a way that spoke of a respect that is inspired by the dignity one possesses. We were considered one of the more fortunate families.
I was teased a lot for my dark skin and my 'English nose'. I was told that I was ugly by just about everyone with the exception of those who loved me enough to see beauty in me.
I am still psychologically messed up from the taunts I suffered at the hands of other children and I cry sometimes when I think about them.
When I was in my teens I was sent to live with my aunt because my grandmother did not want to send me to boarding school and there were no high schools nearby.
While living with my aunt, I suffered a great deal of racial hatred from the community where my aunt lived. I was spat on and beat up. I was mocked further about my darkness and ridiculed for resembling boys. I was even put in a boys ward when I was admitted in a private clinic to have my tonsils removed. The mistake was later corrected but not before I had suffered the trauma of being in a hospital gown with a gaping back and no underwear in the boy's ward. God was my only protection because I might have been attacked but I was not.
I struggled for the right to do normal Math at school because I was deemed too stupid to handle it by the teachers of the model c school that was supposed to be the place where I got better education. I struggled to get my ID and struggled also to get my tertiary education going. I struggled to make it up the corporate ladder and I struggled to get published. My life is a series of struggles.
I started my degree via correspondence while working as a consultant and completed it after six years. I failed along the way because sometimes work had to take priority over studies since it was the means by which I could undertake those studies.
I take nothing for granted in my life because I had to fight for it all. I am eternally grateful to those who offer me genuine support and those who refrain from using me. As a young person I grappled with my disease to please syndrome. I no longer care that people think I am black and ugly, I know that those who love me find me beautiful and perhaps one day I shall stop seeing myself through the eyes of those who saw ugly when they saw me. For now, the love of a man from Algeria is healing my self-esteem issues because it proves once and for all that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I have made many acquaintances in my life and God has been there for me always.
Side note: I grew up not knowing my father so I am partial to women because they are the ones who have been there for me all my life.
Growing up, I played diketo and made toys with clay. I played with both sexes, when minding the cattle I would play boys games and when fetching water or firewood or doing laundry down the ravine I would play girls games. I was born in the now Gauteng province but being a black person, I was not allowed to be registered as having been born there so I was registered as having been born in the district of Mount Fletcher.
I had a normal childhood for one raised in the bundus and I loved my life. My grandmother is my mother and my mother is my sister, that is how it was and that is how it remains in my psyche.
I started school at the age of 5, my best friends were my cousin and a girl who lived with my aunt-in-law.
My grandmother was rather strict, did not like us going to people's homes, even relatives. She was so dignified, everyone in the village respected her in a way that spoke of a respect that is inspired by the dignity one possesses. We were considered one of the more fortunate families.
I was teased a lot for my dark skin and my 'English nose'. I was told that I was ugly by just about everyone with the exception of those who loved me enough to see beauty in me.
I am still psychologically messed up from the taunts I suffered at the hands of other children and I cry sometimes when I think about them.
When I was in my teens I was sent to live with my aunt because my grandmother did not want to send me to boarding school and there were no high schools nearby.
While living with my aunt, I suffered a great deal of racial hatred from the community where my aunt lived. I was spat on and beat up. I was mocked further about my darkness and ridiculed for resembling boys. I was even put in a boys ward when I was admitted in a private clinic to have my tonsils removed. The mistake was later corrected but not before I had suffered the trauma of being in a hospital gown with a gaping back and no underwear in the boy's ward. God was my only protection because I might have been attacked but I was not.
I struggled for the right to do normal Math at school because I was deemed too stupid to handle it by the teachers of the model c school that was supposed to be the place where I got better education. I struggled to get my ID and struggled also to get my tertiary education going. I struggled to make it up the corporate ladder and I struggled to get published. My life is a series of struggles.
I started my degree via correspondence while working as a consultant and completed it after six years. I failed along the way because sometimes work had to take priority over studies since it was the means by which I could undertake those studies.
I take nothing for granted in my life because I had to fight for it all. I am eternally grateful to those who offer me genuine support and those who refrain from using me. As a young person I grappled with my disease to please syndrome. I no longer care that people think I am black and ugly, I know that those who love me find me beautiful and perhaps one day I shall stop seeing myself through the eyes of those who saw ugly when they saw me. For now, the love of a man from Algeria is healing my self-esteem issues because it proves once and for all that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I have made many acquaintances in my life and God has been there for me always.
Side note: I grew up not knowing my father so I am partial to women because they are the ones who have been there for me all my life.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 24, 2022
An emotionally captivating book, well written and keeps you intrigued and react to every character. Each Character means something and forces you to notice. The story captures human struggle, human spirit and success. The realism interwoven with fiction makes Chain Reaction a wholesome book.
December 30, 2022
Very short intriguing story about a young girl who built an empire out of the stones that life threw to her. Thumbs up to the Author, story beautifully told
November 1, 2025
The storyline is engaging, it is relatable to day-to-day life in a rural environment. It will make you angry, sad enough to cry, resentful of the circumstances, but proud of the 2 sisters who overcame adversities at a very young age. The older girl lost an opportunity of a lifetime, she did not let the circumstance of her rearing define her life as an adult, spurred on by pride and not wanting to give in and admit defeat. She took what her grandmother thought was preparation to be someone’s wife and turned it into a business. Well written, thank you.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews