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| Senzekile Mtshali |
‘All I knew was that if I wanted to be something, I would have to study for it.’
Smiling across the table, Senzekile looks every bit the corporate protégée. Confident, articulate, intelligent and attractive, she would seem to have the world at her feet. Working in IT for The African Bank, she looks like she takes good care of herself - and can afford to.
Nothing in her face betrays any signs of the struggles and stress, the doubt and uncertainty, or the pain and loss which at the tender age of 23 she has not merely survived, but triumphed over.
‘I came from KZN, it’s quite a rural area. It was a typical household; the kids stay alone at home while the mother goes to the city to work for the family. It was the only way we could have bread on the table.’
The youngest of four sisters, Senzekile was the lucky one. Her two eldest sisters soon had to join their mother in the city, who was working as a cleaner, to make ends meet while she went to school. She was a good student, and was often selected to represent the school. Then, tragedy struck; unknown to Senzekile her mother had been suffering from TB, and was eventually too ill to work and was forced to return home.
‘I was 14, and I had never been told about her being ill. I remember when she first came she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t walk, she couldn’t do anything.’ she recalls. ‘Before I’d go to school I would prepare some food for her to eat during the day, then after school I would bath her, feed her, and talk to her until she fell asleep. Sometimes it would be really late at night because she couldn’t sleep due to the pain.’
Senzekile continued to study hard, doing her homework at night by candlelight as their home had no electricity. For a while, her mother’s health appeared to improve, but then, ‘around April, she woke me up one night and told me that this was just about the end of her journey. She asked me to stay in school, to provide for the family because the rest of them had had to drop out of school to look after the rest of us. It was unreal; I thought it was probably the pain, just a momentary thing, but she promised that she was just going to stay for my birthday then she would leave. Exactly a month after my birthday she passed away.’
Following her mother’s funeral, Senzekile went to live with an aunt. ‘It was a typical Cinderella story’ she says, showing off the scars and calluses on her hands, ‘I did gardening and housework, all just to come back to a plate of food after school.’ Eventually, she went home again to live by herself.
She struggled to pay school her fees until the head teacher came to the rescue by helping to organise a bursary for her. He was also the person who introduced her to CIDA City Campus. Senzekile had looked into other universities, but full bursaries were only available to second year students who had already demonstrated a commitment, ‘for someone in my position that didn’t make sense. All I could tell them was “Yes, I want to study.” It wasn’t enough for them.’
Arriving at CIDA in 2007, Senzekile describes it as a place of healing before anything else. Many of the students she encountered had similarly been through difficult experiences. ‘CIDA focuses on the person,’ she explains ‘as well as providing the academic lessons. It’s the sense of community and interdependence on one another, knowing that I am because somebody else is. It’s those things that have more impact on a person’s life than just what they learn in books.’
Having graduated in 2010, Senzekile was given an internship at The Africa Bank as a network engineer. ‘At first I had that fear of the unknown. You need to actually do what you learned. The people that I work with are very experienced; most of them have worked in the industry 10 or more years.’ Not only was she the youngest and one of only a couple of black people, Senzekile remains the only female in her team, ‘I’m a lady, there’s still that sceptical stigma around, but as we went on that’s when I realised I do know what I’m doing. When sometimes things don’t work out my colleagues ask me how I would have handled the situation.’ She has also come up with some bright ideas that have expanded the bank’s business; setting up credit facilities in furniture stores. ‘I have seen other interns come through but most of them don’t stay – I was taken on even before my internship was over.’
Her efforts have not gone unnoticed or unrewarded; at the end of her first year she received an award for ‘best newcomer’ in the IT team. ‘I have it at home’ she says proudly, ‘and when I walk in and see it there it always hits me that I never dreamed I would have something hanging on my wall from such a reputable company recognising me after just a year of employment.’
Senzekile has not kept her success to herself though. Between them, her sisters have 5 children and now Senzekile is putting all of them through school. She’s done the same for her next eldest sister who she funded to go back to school to complete her studies, and who now is doing a four year course in primary health care. ‘It’s a chain reaction, had it not been for me finding out about CIDA and getting the quality education that got me to where I am now, I wouldn't have been able to provide for my family. Even worse, I could still be at home while my sisters work and send home money, then that would mean their kids would have to go through the same thing I did because there wouldn't be anyone to provide for their education. It’s a complete turnaround.”’
Her own future plans are on hold for the moment, while she concentrates on her career and takes care of her family. ‘I’m not married, not yet. I am a career girl, but I would wish to marry, not any time soon though.’ she smiles, but she takes her commitments very seriously, ‘I’m the pillar of the family, so I’m very committed at the moment while I’m still taking my family to school and looking after them. I’m also building us a house.’ she adds, as if it’s a minor detail.
Harbouring hopes for a better future for her own children, Senzekile has a clear idea of the kind of education they should have. ‘I see my children’s future as being totally different to how it was when I grew up. I wouldn’t want that for my kids, I didn’t have an easy upbringing. Regardless of which university they would go to, or how it was funded, it was the interpersonal skills that I leaned at CIDA which were more important. So if they are to go to a university it should have that same sense of community.’
To the person who provided her scholarship, she has this message; ‘It’s amazing that someone believed in me, someone who had never even met me.’ She takes a moment to compose herself. ‘I get emotional’ she apologises, unnecessarily.
‘I can never ever thank them enough. Without them I would have no idea where I would be – rather I do have an idea, and it’s not a good one. The typical jobs in my hometown for somebody who hasn’t had any further education would be to work in the clothing factories. It’s very hard work and it doesn’t provide much.’
‘I never would have believed I would have gone this far. It’s so far from what I had dreamed of, and this is only just the beginning.’
