A YEAR ago she became the first woman in Khubvi outside Thohoyandou in Venda to bear quadruplets. At the time the future looked fine, with all and sundry promising to help the mother of six, who works as a security guard.

"After giving birth it looked as if the future would be bright for my children. But now, a year later, I am finding the going tough," Patricia Ambani said yesterday.

She said she was struggling to feed and clothe the kids. "The department of social development used to give me milk for the kids once a month, but this was stopped when they turned one year in September," she said.

Ambani, 32, said the kids had been given clothes by well-wishers after their birth. But after a year the clothes no longer fit them.

"With the Christmas festivities beckoning, there is nothing for my kids," she says.

Ambani says though she gets a monthly social grant for the children, it is not enough.

"I have to pay, for instance, the person who looks after the children while I am at work."

Ambani gets R500 a month from businessman Benjie Netshisaulu, who pledged the amount after the birth of the kids.

After the children's birth, a trust account was formed in her name - but it has not elicited support from the general public as it was expected to.