abandoned

"Don't ask," says Mai C, shaking her head. I thought maybe their mother was back because Yolanda, (8, 9?) has a dress on. When I look closely though, I see that it's an ancient dress.The lilac is faded, the frills torn. Yolanda used to be a bookworm, grabbing my old Woman and Home magazines and tucking herself away in a corner to read them. Now she drops her head when you speak to her, refuses to answer.

Yolanda's mum left six weeks ago. She left the children -- Yolanda, Igno and two-year-old Polite -- in the care of an 11-year old brother. For food, she left half a bucket of maize. The brother slipped across the border to Mozambique to try to buy cheap dried kapenta fish. I don't know if he's still doing that. Now the children rely on charity -- donations of beans, cooking oil, rice, salt. There's been no word of the children's mother since, though Mai C says she's heard (through a complicated network of contacts) that the woman has been seen. "In Marange," she says. "Digging for diamonds."