Single mom’s success tale
"I discovered my purpose in life and I want to help other mothers find purpose in theirs" - Esther Boersma
POLOKWANE – Traditional value systems teach us that a family is not complete without both parents present.
However, single parents the world over have proven that it is possible to raise a child in the absence of their counterparts. Esther Boersma is a 25-year-old single mother who has defied the odds and managed to raise her son without the support of a spouse. “At first I didn’t think I would be able to be a single parent. For a long time, I told myself I couldn’t be a successful parent without a man,” she explains. “After I had been on my own for a while, I realised it is possible to raise a child on my own and not as difficult as I expected,” she says.
In January Esther began to share her personal struggles and her methods to cope with them with other single mothers. “I discovered my purpose in life and I want to help other mothers find purpose in theirs,” says Esther.
“Parents need to understand that when they are unhappy, their children feed off their energy and become unhappy too. They should find what makes them happy in life and teach their children to do the same, lead by example.”
She further says parents shouldn’t fall into the trap of thinking they won’t be able to do it alone and that if she could gather the courage to do it, anyone can. “Some people spend their days working so they can put their children through school but that is merely surviving. You need to have a purpose in life to keep you happy and motivated,” she explains.
Esther is a photographer and also works with her father, Wiebren, at Kingdom Ministries International. “I am very happy with my job, I enjoy what I do and this is proof that single parents can be happy and do work they enjoy and earn an income from,” says Esther.
She says she looks up to her father, who challenges her to be a better person every day.
“I will always love him for that,” she gushes. Esther runs a programme for single mothers called Successful Single Moms Polokwane and readers are invited to like the Successful Single Moms Polokwane Facebook page.
