Buhle Mayekiso is now living in Durban with his wife, two boys and a daughter. This goes a long way back to when he was a kid.

He was born during the 19th century in Flagstaff in a rural area named Mketengeni, but grew up in a village called Sixhontweni. He lived with his mother and his sister, Tebe. His mother was a single mother so she could not take care of two children at the same time. His sister was the first one to ever go to school in the history of his family, now he hoped to go to school too, but as I have said, his mother did not have enough to cater for them both.

He was sent by his mother to live with his aunt in the village nearby. When he got there, his nightmare started as his aunt had two daughters and a son of her own. Those three were so close to each other you would swear they were born in the same year, but you would have been wrong. They were close to each other, but not to him. They hated him and when he went to the river, they would stay home and play Umangqalutye, make negative remarks and laugh at him. Since he was so dirty and stinky, they named him ‘Stinky’ and that was hurtful to him.

At the age of twelve, he had the opportunity to go to school and start his first grade. At school, he was no-one’s favourite but he was good at his studies. He made history and passed his first grade without having to repeat it, whereas the other three were held up in the first grade even though they had started two years earlier than him. One of the teachers took him to a school that is situated at Bizana, known as Matshezi P.S.S, and he passed until the 12th grade without even one fail. He was noticed by the Department of Education and went to university where he did four full years and passed.

He got a job as an accountant at one of the biggest companies in South Africa, a JSE company. After two years of work, he built his mother a big house in Durban and also built his aunt a house. It was so sad that the other three were only doing their 5th grade at that time!

Now Stinky is no longer Stinky; he is ‘Richy’, which brings me to the point that people call you names because of your appearance, not knowing what you are for real.