My name is Louisa Khumalo. I am doing Grade 10 at Sithengile Secondary School. I am an almost intelligent student.

I am part of a group of four students who try their best at school. In the group, I actually haven’t found my best friend, but we try our best every day to be a good team. We love each other and we also respect each other, all the time. But we all have our challenges.

For example, I am 15 years old, physically, but only 10 years old, emotionally. I love playing, laughing and chasing kids, unlike my friends. They act like adults and they are really good at it.

At school, each of us does her own study. We are all so different. For example, I do Physics, Life Science and Mathematics. However, Nonhlanhla does Drama and Business Studies. As for Nokuthula and Nonduduzo, they do EGD and Mechanical Technology. They are in different classes from me.

I try my best all the time, but as you all know, you cannot steal another person’s intelligence. Nokuthula is good in Maths and for two whole years I have been trying to be like her. And Nonhlanhla is good at Drama and I have been trying to be like her for almost five years. Nonduduzo is great at drawing, and I have been trying to be like her for 15 years. But, time and time again, I fail.

I have a lot of excellent, intelligent friends, which makes me a little less worried. Even at school, the principal, Mr. Thusi, and the teachers have been trying their best to show us that we need to pull ourselves up by our socks. But, still, I have been failing in my classes.
“I have no talent,” I said to myself.

“You can’t give up. Not now, girl,” said Nonhlanhla.

“I am sure you are good at something,” says Nonduduzo.

“Practise harder. Work, search and look for something. You are a hard worker,” says Nokuthula.

This is all too much. What am I going to do to succeed? Each term, our school calls out the top ten learners, and I have never been in there. I so wish I was clever.

“Practise makes perfect. Pull up your socks and don’t give up. I am sure you are good at something. Practise harder and work hard,” said Mr. Thusi one morning at the school assembly.

I listened to these words and they were actually the same words as my friends: “If I work hard, I shall be in the top ten next term,” I promised this to myself.

And that is exactly what I did. When the teacher was teaching, I would take my exercise books and do the notes, study them and do my homework in order to be clever in class. However, at the end of the term, the top ten students were called again. And, still, I wasn’t there. I was still failing. Mr. Thusi repeated the same old speech and thanked those hardworking students that had made it in. I felt so left out.

“I am useless. School is just not for me. I can never do anything right. I give up,” I told myself.

It didn’t matter to me anymore. I had given up. I was tired of studying for nothing, failing all the terms and still getting passed to the next grade at the end of the year. Other kids were smart in class. What bothered me the most was that most of them did not even study that hard. But, still, they were passing. Why? How? I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand.

I even thought that maybe they were using muthi or something to make them clever. I even thought maybe they were cheating during exams. However, all these thoughts were making me sick. I needed to talk to someone because I was getting really worried and angry.

So, I went to one of my classmates, Thabo, and we had a small talk where I confessed my feelings. I trusted Thabo because he was a class representative. He was a leader and very clever, so I thought he would give me the best advice. I also had some questions for him:

“So,” I started. “Often, I don’t see you study. How come you pass so well, then?”

Thabo said, “Yeah, Louisa, I don’t study a lot. Well, I do. But that’s not all I do.”

“Well how do you pass, then?”

“Faith,” Thabo replied. “Faith and belief. And practise.”

“I don’t get it,” I said.

Thabo touched my shoulder, “Without believing in something, you cannot and never will get it right. You’ve got to have faith in yourself. Lastly, practise. Don’t study too much, but practise normally. Everything has its time. Have faith”

“O-k-a-y-,” I sighed. “I never thought of it like that, Thabo. So is that how you all pass? Faith?”

“Yes. I have faith in myself.”

“Yes. Thanks, Thabo. Goodbye.”

“Best of luck, Louisa.”

That talk really helped me a lot. I finally knew what Mr. Thusi was trying to say all along. I needed to have faith. And that is just what I did. I prayed a lot. I asked God for power. I asked Him to give me the ability to understand more of what I was reading, and to make all of what I was reading clearer. Every single time before I started to read my materials, I prayed.

And guess what? I passed my terms and I believe that I will be in the top 10 next year, no matter what, because I had faith.

Through my new faith and studies, I started to take writing more seriously. With time and practise, I soon realized that I am actually a good writer. I started to even write short stories, just for fun. One day, I gave a story of mine to Nonduduzo to read. She took the story home and read it for two days, she came back to school and told me:

“I think you’re a good writer. I like this story. I think you should take it more seriously!”

And guess what else? If I was able to tell you readers this story that you are reading now, it means that Nonduduzo was right; I am talented at something. She let me know that my talent was actually writing.

And also if Nonhlanhla hadn’t said that I must not give up, then I wouldn’t have trusted myself. And Nokuthula was right; all I had to do was to practise and work harder.

I will never be my friends. Why? Because I am Louisa Khumalo, not Nonhlanhla the actor, neither Nonduduzo the artist, nor Nokuthula the mathematician. I am Louisa. Louisa, the writer. Because we are all different, it makes us unique.

In order to be successful in life, you have to have faith, believe in yourself and practise incredibly hard.

Don’t ever forget that practise makes perfect.