When the village sleeps

Abstract

This thesis consists of a creative and in-depth research component: a speculative novel, When the Village Sleeps, and a reflective long essay. It is about a young woman, Mandlakazi, who was born severely malformed, the result of deliberate invitro chemical exposure by her teen mother, Busisiwe. Busisiwe watched her own mother raise three children with the help of the child grant and decided that she would be better off financially were she to take advantage of the grant system by having a disabled baby.