Hope for SA in a teen’s triumph

It cannot be easy growing up as an African girl in a township in the Eastern Cape, one of our “basket case” provinces.

And never mind being raised by your mother and grandmother because, like so many other families, your father is absent.

Yet, teenager Siyahluma Majoka has overcome the odds to obtain 11 distinctions in her teaching course at Nelson Mandela University as top student of the year.

Despite having to do her school and university work in a three-bedroom house crammed with 17 people, Siyahluma kept her focus and, she says, avoided peer pressure by staying indoors to study.

No doubt, there are many other stories like hers around the country, proving that we do not have to write off the future of our youth to booze, nyaope, violence and pregnancy.

These are the sort of people who will build a brighter future for South Africa.

They have the insight to realise that economic liberation is in their hands and that the world owes them no
handouts.

And Siyahluma is determined to pass that on, because, as she says: “I love education, teaching and helping young children as they grow up”.

You make us proud, Siyahluma…and you give us hope.

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