Kwethu Children's Education Project, South Africa

Dear friend,

I know you don't know exactly who I am so let me tell you something about me.

I"m a teenager , a little older than you might think of as a teenager, and my main goal is to have a good future. That means, making money so I can get the things I see other people enjoy.  But my mentor, Mrs Ndlovu, keeps reminding me that goal depends on immediate goals of doing well in my study at university and passing my exams. And reaching that goal depends, she reminds me,  on my character of being able to discipline my love of having a good time and just hanging out.

Nobody in my family has been to university before.   My family home is a group of small buildings  fenced by sticks and wire, along a heavily rutted dirt road shared by neighbors and chickens.A grass roofed rondaval in our compound is where we meet on special occasions and in special ways,to  'listen' to ancestral wisdom advising on decisions affecting all of us. I think that education at university.will make a difference in how I make decisions. I hope it gives me wider options and bigger ideas that what I see my friends in the village have.

I'm a  Zulu girl.  I've already had a baby because I thought getting pregnant was okay, sort of to maybe show you are a woman...anyway there was nothing to stop that happening when I had a boyfriend. I'm lucky that baby's grandmother is taking care of him so I can go to school.  That's another reason I need to succeed.  I'm learning responsibility in a big way, in a hard way. 

I am a South African. I'm proud of that and I think it means I have a great future in front of me. I hope there will be a job for me that I can help my country be successful.

I grew up at Kwethu Children's Village and I see my 'siblings' older than me with jobs, cars, homes. They also talk  to me,  send me text messages and encourage me to stay focused on my studying and exams. I sort of think I really have to do that , because they won't let me forget how it is I have this opportunity. And that I wouldn't have any other chance to reach my goals.I know all the other learners who are supported by Kwethu Education Fund, and I'm proud to be part of this family. That also helps me stay focused.  

So I want to thank you for having faith in me. I don't want to disappoint you or my Kwethu family or my mentors and Gogo B. And I hope that when I finish and get a job I can give back to the Education Fund so other girls can go to school.  

Sincerely,

Happy to Have a Future