As a boy, Kelvin Fortune witnessed and experienced the struggles his mother endured and at the tender age of 11 even became her primary caregiver when battling debilitating diseases. He died soon after and while many helped the young man over the years, he had to struggle with depression and anxiety as he struggled to find his foundation in the journey of life.
Fortune’s mother had cancer and HIV and as she prepared for the National Grade Six Assessment, the then 11-year-old girl had to care for her. When he died he was at school, but he remembered that the last time he saw her before she left for hospital, he knew she was dying. Before that he also existed in what could be described as a battlefield as he witnessed his mother being beaten by her partners and in one case he was kicked downstairs by his stepfather.
Spending three nights and three days on the streets because they had nowhere to live is also part of Fortune’s history. He didn’t hate his mother, instead, he said, he loved her “very dear”. He believes life has thrown her too many challenges, including the deaths of two of her young siblings from pneumonia, and was just a case of being unable to hold her head above the water.