Outside Pinetown Girls High School this week. Picture: Shelley Kjonstad/African News Agency (ANA)
Our story on page 6 today of Daminda Senekal-Griessel brought back memories, bad memories.
After two painful miscarriages, the reasons for which are still unknown today. Our son was born in 2003 and was followed by our daughter a year and a half later. The successful pregnancies were monitored very closely indeed.
I had already begun dreading the tests which must surely follow a third miscarriage, accepting that something in my own make-up could be the problem, rather than my wife. Because everyone always looks to the woman first, right?
Thank God my son came along and spared my blushes.
Arising from her own experiences trying to conceive, Senekal-Griessel has become a fertility coach, helping couples struggling to have children.
Read her story to learn how even simple everyday choices can affect conception, and how she managed these to give birth at 47.
Every parent's nightmare is a situation where your child’s wellbeing is out of control.
I can well understand, therefore, the fear and anxiety of the mothers of the Pinetown Girls' High School pupils experiencing mass hysteria and hallucinations, and speaking in tongues.
While the Education Department is loathe to put a label on the cause – whether demonic possession, ancestral calling or drug-taking – the Pinetown incident was certainly not the first, and probably won't be the last.
What is certain is that the department should investigate the phenomenon and have mechanisms – whether spiritual, psychological or treatment for addiction – in place to respond quickly.
The Independent on Saturday