10 years later
The heels make her feel powerful. With a smile, she looks at the groups of students forming at Clarino High School’s gate.
“Morning, class,” she greets them 10 minutes later. Everyone is standing next to their desks.
“Morning, Ma’am,” they answer in unison.
“Who is ready for a day filled with hard work?” A daily question that she asks.
Everyone raises their hands. She smiles warmly.
“Good, now please come and get your textbooks, row by row, you know the drill.”
They held a carwash at the start of the year and bought textbooks with the proceeds.
While the students are busy getting their books, Mthabiseni thinks back to her struggles, back to when she was in this class and when Miss Munnik taught her not to lose hope.
And she didn’t. She worked hard—harder than everybody else. She and Gosego stayed every day after school to study, and both were rewarded.
Mthabiseni got a bursary to study education, while Gosego got a bursary to go to nursing school.
She sometimes gets asked why she did not leave town why she stayed. And her answer is always just to smile. But she knows she stayed to make a difference; you can’t just turn your back on everything. And maybe she can be as inspiring to someone as Miss Munnik was to her.
They had a small house built. Mom can rest now, only working in her small garden. Rio and Kas are both doing very well in school, and she helps them every day. Bringing her focus back to the classroom, she says, “Today we are writing essays.”
The Grade 8s love writing.
“The topic for today…choices,” she says, as she hands out blank pages.
“Ma’am, can one of the choices be not to write the essay?” one of the boys asks.
Everyone laughs.
“No, that choice was already made,” she answers with a smile.
“Write about your choices and their influence on your life and other people’s lives,” Mthabiseni continues.
All the students start to work.
Tebogo is still in the neighbourhood, but his gang is no more. The year after the fire, he got seriously hurt in a car accident. They went for a drunken joy ride that didn’t end well.
“Ma’am, can you help?” a learner asks, raising their hand.
Mthabiseni starts walking. “Of course. I’m here to help.”
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