Search for Joshlin Smith brings up painful memories for family of missing Shasha Lee November
Shasha Lee was six-years-old when she disappeared from outside her family home in this street on 3 May 2015.
Missing 6-year-old Joshlin Smith. Picture: Western Cape Missing Persons Unit/Supplied.
CAPE TOWN - For the ninth consecutive year, the family and friends of Shasha Lee November and Hanover Park community members will gather for a night vigil in Groenal Walk.
Shasha Lee was six-years-old when she disappeared from outside her family home in this street on 3 May 2015.
She was wearing white shorts, a white T-shirt and green slippers when she was last seen by her family, who up until this day, believe she is still alive and will return home to her loved ones one day.
Shasha Lee's older sister, Jasmine Harris, said that the young girl would be 16 in September.
"For me, it's quite painful not knowing where she is but still, I do have faith and believe that somewhere out there she is with someone. I have a one-year-old granddaughter now and she looks exactly like Shasha. Every day I look at her and I see my little sister. To see a face that's been missing for nine years and I see it in my granddaughter's face, it's quite painful."
Harris said their mother died six years ago with a broken heart caused by the uncertainty of her youngest child's whereabouts.
She said the family receives no information from police regarding her sister's case.
"If I need to have any information about my sister, I have to phone the investigating officer to find out if there are any leads or whatever but they never contacted me."
Harris said that for now, all her family could do was keep the faith.
"If she can hear my voice today, I would just like to tell her... Shasha, we miss you, Nanna misses you a lot. If you can hear my voice, come home to us? We love you."
She said she had warm memories of her beloved little sister.
"I look at her photo now and I just see the smile on her face. That was the kind of child she was. Always a smiling face, always joyful, happy and she always wanted to be the boss lady in the house even though she was the youngest."
Sadly, it's not only Shasha Lee's family searching for a missing child.
Tuesday marked two years since two-month-old Kai-isha Meniers was snatched from her pram outside a supermarket in Bishop Lavis, and there's still no sign of the little girl or her kidnapper.
Police have confirmed a case of kidnapping is still under investigation by the Bishop Lavis Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit.
In the most recent missing child case to have rocked the province, the search continues for six-year-old Joshlin Smith, who disappeared from her Saldanha Bay home in February.
The grade 1 learner's mother was among those arrested in connection with her disappearance.
Shasha Lee's sister has this message for Joshlin and anyone who knows of her whereabouts.
"Whoever has Joshlin out there, please bring her back to her family because she is also a young girl. When she went missing, it reminded me so much again of my sister. Little Joshlin, don't worry, you will get back to your family, just know that we love you. Whoever has Joshlin, just send her back to her family, I beg you."