Mandisa Mlitwa grew up with a different type of family than most.
Now, don’t go thinking this was a bad kind of different. Her family is different because instead of conceiving her, they chose her.
The young woman is Mandisa Mlitwa.
She’s bright, happy, and very thankful.
We all know the saying that blood is thicker than water, but anyone who’s had unconventional families can tell you otherwise. Not everyone’s blood relatives are very nice to them, and the ties you choose to form can be some of the strongest you ever have.
Mandisa Mlitwa is one of the people blessed with a family that chose her.
She’s an adopted child from Durban, a city in the eastern regions of South Africa. It’s not clear how she lost her birth parents, but it was obvious they loved her.
Whatever might’ve happened, Mandisa received the blessing of a new family that chose to love and take care of her.
Her new parents didn’t look like her, but that didn’t matter.
Her new parents were white, so anyone could guess that they weren’t her birth parents.
Of course, they loved her as much as any parent would love their child. They chose to take care of her when she had no one else, and she was always thankful for that.
In the United States alone, there’s a count of about 1.5 million adopted children. When some kids can’t stay with the families that made them, it’s great that other people can welcome those kids into theirs.
With her adoptive parents, she grew up like any other girl.
They put her in school, drove her to places, and celebrated holidays together.
And as most of us know, it’s important to say I love you to your loved ones while you still can. Mandisa lost her mom to cancer fairly recently, leaving her dad to take care of her. While she didn’t spill any more details, most of us can guess it hasn’t been easy for them.
She wrote on her Facebook :
“I wanna take this opportunity and thank God, for putting these wonderful people in my path. I am an adopted child. I feel loved every single day, I wake up in the morning and I am hugged. I call when I am in trouble and my dad is right there within a short space of time.
This month last year we lost my mom to cancer, so now it is just my pops and I. I always laugh when we are out and people think he is my sugar daddy. Angilazi uthando olungaka!!! They clothed me and took me to school and didn’t expect anything in return!! I feel loved every single day. My dad, he takes me out on lunches, he opens doors for me, he hugs me every day, tells me he loves me, helps me wash my hair njalo mangikade ngilukile, he makes me breakfast and I’m 21!!
He buys me my favourite foods and drinks…he is my best friend!! I can even talk to him about dating, he is so cool!!
Thank you God, you took my mom but I still feel loved and I will forever be grateful for her and my dad taking me in and loving me like their very own.
RIP mom.”
Picking up the pieces after your wife passes is no small task.
Her dad is a hero, both to her and us. Mandisa’s family is one of the thousands of reminders that sometimes, the best families are the ones you choose.
The comments on her post were extremely positive.
Love is an awfully powerful force. When there’s hate and fear everywhere about people who look different, it’s great to have lots of that force.
Mandisa’s family story is a welcome taste of sweetness when some decide to be bitter.
Read Mandisa’s original post below!
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