Sinolwethu Mfedu’s story is remarkable. She is an orphan, raised by her unemployed aunt, and had to walk 30 minutes to her Eastern Cape school every day.
But this did not prevent her from being recognised as one of the top matric achievers in the country.
“I am the first person in my family to finish school,” Sinolwethu said.
She was flown to Gauteng with her aunt, Nosisa Mfedu, and economics teacher, Vuyolwethu Vusani, to attend the matric results announcement, where she was named as one of the country’s top achievers.
The class of 2018, with just more than 630,396 matrics writing, had a 78.2% pass rate, equal to that of 2013.
The increased 78.2% pass mark is a 3.1 percentage point increase from 2017, when 75.1% of pupils passed.
Sinolwethu attended Malelane Senior Secondary School in Bizana, near the Eastern Cape border with KwaZulu-Natal.
It is a school that, according to her teacher, has up to 80 pupils in a class and it is viewed as a good school.
Sinolwethu explained some of the challenges she faced.
“We do not have resources. We use what we find. There was no library. There is a science lab but [it has] no equipment.”
Despite this, Vusani said: “The teachers are dedicated. There has been good management at the school since 2012. Since then, the school is performing well.”
To achieve what she did, Sinolwethu remained at school in the afternoon because it provided a quieter environment than at home.
But this meant a 30-minute walk home in the dark, she said.
Sinolwethu has been accepted by the University of Cape Town to study towards a business science degree.
Her aunt could not stop beaming at the top achievers’ breakfast on Thursday. Sinolwethu’s parents died when she was only four and her aunt, who has one biological child, took her and her two older and younger brothers in.
The family does not have running water at home. Her aunt said she had to fetch water from the river using a bucket, and she also raises goats and chickens.
She said she had helped her niece achieve through “love”.
“I love her. I loved her…to make her feel like she didn’t lose her parents.” – Times Select..