eMBALENHLE – Without money and no one to fund him, Mr Mickey Sibisi was determined to try all avenues that could lead him to university.
Although he performed well in his matric final exams with five distinctions at an average of 80 per cent, Mickey could not fully celebrate because he did not have money to further his studies.
The reality kicked in and at some point, he thought it was with his life, but he never lost the faith.
He had applied for bursaries as he knew his parents were not in a good financial state to cover his university fees, but nothing came through.
By then he already had an offer to study at Wits University.
As he was waiting, hoping and praying that something will come up, he received a life changing call from Graceland.
He was invited to an interview for scholarship and immediately knew that God had heard his prayers.
“I was so excited and I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would make it.
“I went to the interview and by the grace of God, I made it and I was granted a scholarship to study Mining Engineering at Wits University.”
He could recall the joy and the positivity this opportunity brought in his life.
He said he knew that his struggling days were over and was adamant that he will perform well at the university.
However the first year in varsity showed him flames as he was struggling to bridge the gap between high school and varsity.
“I could not comprehend how people made it through varsity.
“At some point, I even applied for Accounting at UJ because I wanted nothing to do with physics.
“It was my first time failing and seeing tears rolling down my face, because I couldn’t cope.
“That’s when I began to ask God why did He allow me to go to Wits if He knew I wouldn’t cope.
“God showed up again, I could not believe when I saw my results in first year that I passed everything.
“I even cried and restarted my phone just to confirm if those marks were really mine, I couldn’t believe it.”
Mr Sibisi said these results helped him to regain his confidence and the second year became better.
This time around his average was always above 70 per cent to a point that he even made it to the Dean’s list which recognises the top 10 of the faculty of engineering.
He graduated in March and is looking for work to showcase his abilities.
He encouraged the learners not to give up on their dreams and not to allow their background to hinder them from achieving things in life.
Mr Sibisi also intends to further his studies. He thanked his former schools, Allan Makhunga and Kiriyatswane Secondary School, his parents, family and Graceland.
