A legacy of pain
Lucy wants death-obsessed Mbali to go for therapy, but she’ll need the courage to confront her own past too.
Mbali (Ditebogo Ledwaba) has been in a dark place since the Holy House incident in April when the church was torched with its members inside. The teen is haunted by thoughts of death, and she’s become violent and aggressive. She’s just not the Mbali everyone knows and loves. Her mom Lucy (Manaka Ranaka) thinks that a sangoma might be able to help Mbali get out of the trap her past has created. She also suggests Mbali starts seeing psychologist
Dr Langa Hlophe (Maxwell Dichi), but when Lucy starts doing sessions with Dr Langa herself, she uncovers her own childhood traumas and her troubled relationship with her mother Gog’Flo (Ivy Nkutha).
HEAL THE MOM, HEAL THE CHILD
Lucy realises that in order to become better at parenting Mbali, she needs to heal from her own scars; scars she didn’t realise were there. “This story is a look into motherhood. How Lucy was raised is affecting the way she is raising Mbali. Therapy reveals that Lucy felt neglected by Gog’Flo while she was a live-in domestic worker for a white family. Lucy also felt judged and misunderstood by her mother, much as Mbali is feeling with her now,” Manaka explains.
“Lucy is frustrated, and she feels like she’s failing her daughter by not being able to help her. She feels out of her depth as a mother. Gog’Flo never took the time to get to know Lucy. Lucy grew up feeling harshly judged by her mother who was also strict. This in turn made Lucy a tough love kind of parent, which she now sees is not what Mbali needs.”
“She’s been trying a lot of things to help Mbali, but her approach has always been tough love. She tried forcing Mbali to help Gog’Flo at Mocha Mamas, tried forcing her to spend more time with the family, but nothing has worked. Now she’s going to try therapy, that’s where she learns that maybe her approach has been all wrong. She thinks therapy might help Mbali, but it may make things worse instead…” she teases. “After a lot of persuasion to get Mbali to Dr Langa’s office, Mbali finally agrees to see Dr Langa herself. But she doesn’t want Lucy to be there,” Manaka hints.
RECOVERY ROAD OR DEAD END?
Once she’s finally seeing a therapist in mid August, Mbali’s healing journey begins – but there are some false starts. Diteboho reveals, “She’s very detached. Everyone wants her to speak about her feelings about Holy House, but she doesn’t want to. She just wants to be left alone.” And Maxwell reveals that although the therapy sessions with Lucy have been effective, they’re not without their own challenges. “The sessions are a little bit frustrating; Lucy wants a quick fix and that is not how therapy works.”