BUMPED & DUMPED
LINDA MARAIS WAS midway through her pregnancy when she and her partner split up – and it was about as ugly as a break-up can get.
“It was clear that he wasn’t interested in being a responsible parent. He insisted on having a paternity test done. Basically, he tried every way possible to deny the child was his,” she recalls.
Linda eventually decided to go at it alone. “My reaction was that if he wasn’t going to love our child and treat her as the special person that she was, then he wasn’t worthy of being in her life.”
Twenty-one years and one well-raised young woman later, Linda wouldn’t change a thing: “I’ve learnt about the honour of raising a beautiful daughter. I could never imagine my life without her.” But raising her daughter solo wasn’t without its challenges.
