A rooster crows, waking baby Athande from her afternoon nap. She lets out a loud shriek and starts to cry, while her young mother, Emihle Ngeseki, hushes her. It's been just over a year since Ngeseki, 18, gave birth.
She's cradling Athande on a bed held up by a stack of four bricks on each of its corners in the one-room hut where they live, next to another rondavel and an add-on where her mother and four siblings sleep. Outside, the roosters scuttle around the sandy grass as a dog sniffs the ground in search of leftover bones around the rondavel nestled on the hills of Lusikisiki, about 30km north of Port St Johns in a rural part of the Eastern Cape. Ngeseki puts Athande in a white puffy jersey and lays her down on the bed.
The only money Ngeseki and her family have to live on are five child support grants for the children under 18 in the household. But it's not nearly enough. At R530 a grant, it comes to a monthly income of R2 650.
Of that, just over R500 is spent on baby Athande's needs, like nappies, body wash, formula milk, clothes and transport to get to the clinic for her check-ups or childhood immunisations . From what's left, the Ngesekis have to cover school transport for the other children, contributions to a stokvel (a community-based savings scheme) and a funeral policy, and groceries. They spend roughly R1 400 on food: rice, mealie meal, fruit, cabbage, oil, sugar, potatoes, flour and soup - food items that the Household Affordability Index shows are the ones wom.
