Getting one daughter ready for her matric dance can be a mammoth undertaking, but Gonubie resident Zana Ackermann had a houseful of nine matric girls to dress and groom for their big night three weeks ago.
Ackermann, 29, who teaches Afrikaans and design at Gonubie High, shares her home with nine matrics and, although her salary may not stretch far, she became a fairy godmother and ensured all of them wore their dream gowns to the matric dance.
A creative at heart, she even drew each girl’s dress according to her wishes before handing the designs over to a dressmaker.
With the help of Link FM and others who donated their money and time, each girl looked red carpet-ready by the time they made their entrance at the East London Golf Club.
“I think the matric farewell is a rite of passage,” said Ackermann. “Children look forward to it throughout their school life, but some are not sure if it will happen for them. I wanted it to be exactly the dream they wanted.”
Ackermann has done more than simply ensure the teens enjoyed a fairytale ball. She opened her home to girls at her school who needed an appropriate study environment in 2013 with the aim of helping them through their vital final school year and ensure they were set to enter tertiary institutions.
“I saw so many kids who had obvious needs and thought how could I live in a house alone and not do something.”
So she turned her sunny loft sewing room and art studio into colourful dorm-style bedrooms for the girls, transformed a spare room into a study space, added a few chairs to her dining room table and suddenly her house was a home to many.
“The plan was to have two girls, but when I read their application letters, two became five and five became seven and this year I have nine girls..”
Every morning the girls make their beds, grab breakfast and head to school and extra-mural activities, but between 5pm and 7pm they are back home for study time while Ackermann cooks.
“A lot of people contribute. Sometimes people just deliver groceries like canned food and bags of oranges and sometimes Catholic nuns drop off cakes. God provides.”
But once the matric exams are over at the end of the year and the girls head off to university or college, Ackermann will begin the next chapter of her life.
“I am putting my house on the market next month. I will be joining a mission organisation and going either to Mozambique or Zambia to help children on a bigger scale next year. My heart was wired to do this.”
Thandokazi Bangani, 17, who will study law at the University of Johannesburg next year, said Ackermann had taken care of her well.
“She has been such an inspiration and it will be hard to say goodbye, but I will always remember her.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
LOCAL HEROES: Teacher ensures fairytale matric dance
Ackermann, 29, who teaches Afrikaans and design at Gonubie High, shares her home with nine matrics and, although her salary may not stretch far, she became a fairy godmother and ensured all of them wore their dream gowns to the matric dance.
A creative at heart, she even drew each girl’s dress according to her wishes before handing the designs over to a dressmaker.
With the help of Link FM and others who donated their money and time, each girl looked red carpet-ready by the time they made their entrance at the East London Golf Club.
“I think the matric farewell is a rite of passage,” said Ackermann. “Children look forward to it throughout their school life, but some are not sure if it will happen for them. I wanted it to be exactly the dream they wanted.”
Ackermann has done more than simply ensure the teens enjoyed a fairytale ball. She opened her home to girls at her school who needed an appropriate study environment in 2013 with the aim of helping them through their vital final school year and ensure they were set to enter tertiary institutions.
“I saw so many kids who had obvious needs and thought how could I live in a house alone and not do something.”
So she turned her sunny loft sewing room and art studio into colourful dorm-style bedrooms for the girls, transformed a spare room into a study space, added a few chairs to her dining room table and suddenly her house was a home to many.
“The plan was to have two girls, but when I read their application letters, two became five and five became seven and this year I have nine girls..”
Every morning the girls make their beds, grab breakfast and head to school and extra-mural activities, but between 5pm and 7pm they are back home for study time while Ackermann cooks.
“A lot of people contribute. Sometimes people just deliver groceries like canned food and bags of oranges and sometimes Catholic nuns drop off cakes. God provides.”
But once the matric exams are over at the end of the year and the girls head off to university or college, Ackermann will begin the next chapter of her life.
“I am putting my house on the market next month. I will be joining a mission organisation and going either to Mozambique or Zambia to help children on a bigger scale next year. My heart was wired to do this.”
Thandokazi Bangani, 17, who will study law at the University of Johannesburg next year, said Ackermann had taken care of her well.
“She has been such an inspiration and it will be hard to say goodbye, but I will always remember her.” — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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