In 2004, I was another 17 year old doing matric. I had a dream. I wanted to be a pilot. I wanted to fly planes and travel the world, but I didn’t know where to study or train to be a pilot. Growing up in a remote rural area, information was seldom available. I passed matric and then went to the Tshwane University of Technology to study Horticulture. The first time I applied for horticulture I did not have a clue what it was all about and it was my first time coming across such a name, I did not know anything about horticulture but I knew for sure that I wanted to go to university, which I did at the end. But let me take you to the first time I travelled to Pretoria to study. It was late January 2005, Oriel (a cousin) and I decided to come to Pretoria to see if we can get to further our studies. I did not know anybody in Pretoria but Oriel did. He had a relative who was staying at Atteridgeville. He did not have a phone, so we could not contact him. All we knew was that he was in Atteridgeville but which part of Pretoria is Atteridgeville, we did not even know. We also did not know where exactly in Atteridgeville was he staying. Fortunately there was another relative of Oriel who was also in Atteridgeville. He was working there, renting a room with his wife. We called and informed them that we were on our way, and we wanted them to show us where Mr. Black (Oriel’s relative as he was affectionately known) was staying. He was staying alone; he would obviously manage to accommodate us. They agreed and the trip was on. The fateful day came and we travelled to Pretoria from Giyani. It was our first time going outside of Limpopo; we arrived in Pretoria at around 17H00. Seeing how dark it was, we tried to find a place to sleep in town and we would try to find Atteridgeville the next day. We asked a lady we met in the bus to direct us to TUT campus that has residences. She told us to forget it; apparently the campus was far. Then we asked her “where is the nearest police station?’ She directed us to the police station in Sunnyside. We were told that “if you ever get stranded, go and sleep at the nearest police station.” We walked to the police station in Sunnyside. It was getting darker and darker with every minute; we got there and sat on a bench just as the other people who were coming in. We sat there for about 30 minutes, and then a police official came to us and asked us in Tswana if we had been helped. Bad enough we did not understand much of Tswana and we were not so good in English either. We tried to explain our situation though and he told us to sit still, they would attend to us soon. We sat there for another 30 to 40 minutes and then came a police official who spoke Tsonga, we explained our story to him and he gave us a serious tongue lashing, At the end he told us to go back to the bench and sit there. We did as he said. People walked in and out. Some made fun of us, some did not. While we were sitting there, a gentleman who had overheard our conversation with the official approached us and told us that there is a motel; “a few streets from here, it’s R100 per night”. He suggested that we should go and sleep there because at midnight the policemen were going to kick us out. He gave us the directions and we went to the motel and slept there. It was called “Parkview Hotel” by Church Street next to the Union Building. We checked out the next morning and began our university search. We went TUT, UNISA and to the University of Pretoria but alas, there was no space. At around 14H30 we took a taxi to Atteridgeville. We tried to find Oriel’s other relative, we found the wife. The husband was at work. She took us to Mr. Black’s place Mr. Black was still at work when we arrived, he came back at around 18H30, he knew Oriel but he did not know me. Oriel introduced me to him and told him our story. He did not have a problem, we then stayed with him. The place was an informal settlement so you can imagine the conditions in the area. We were not used to them but we had to cope. The next morning we went to Medunsa. There was no space, same story with TUT Garankuwa campus. We tried to find other institutions but alas, it all came to nothing. When it became clear that we would not be studying that year, we tried to find jobs. We got a job in February at a filling station in town. We were petrol attendant trainees. On our first day at work, Oriel was doing well, but it was horrible for me. The second day I did well but Oriel had a terrible day. On our second day, just before we knocked off, they told us that the next day we were going to get the uniform, and we would be formally employed, we were happy until they told us about our salaries. There was no basic salary. We were going to earn 55 cents per car. We just nodded in front of the supervisor but as we left it was a case of “see us now, see us no more” we never went back to that station and that was it, we quit. February came to an end and we wanted to go home. But we did not have money; neither did we have bank accounts, which meant that the people at home could not send us money. We also did not have cell phones; they could not talk to us unless we called them. At the beginning of March, Mr. Black gave us money to go back home, which we did on the 04th of March 2005. Mr. Black has since passed and may his soul rest in peace. Through his actions I learned kindness, he came home to find two people at his door, and he took them in and treated them like his own kids. Went out of his way to make sure that we were safe and well fed, we were an inconvenience but he took it upon himself to guide us, to show us the way, to teach us ubuntu. When we were down, he was always there to give us hope. I guess one writer was talking about people like him when he said “the people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most credentials, the most awards or the most money but it’s those who care”. You too can make a difference in someone’s life, sometimes it doesn’t need money to give hope, some people all they need is an ear to listen, some all they need is someone that can believe in them, someone to pick them up when they are down. Someone that can make them realize the power inside them.if youve had people who looked out for you,who picked you up when you were down,who believed in you and your dreams,who pushed you towards your goal,thank them today,if you didnt have any, You can be that person to someone else. Be the change you want to see. Give hope to others; let your life speak to what’s best inside them. Live a life of significance.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 06:28:03 +0000
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