By Jonk wa Mashamba
news@alexreporter.co.za

While some of her peers have nearly four children, married or divorced, Sbongile Mbatha (33) is single and very busy with the emancipation of young people.

She says she finds happiness and satisfaction when a learner is empowered. Recently she was empowering grade 12 learners at Alex High school.

Mbatha said she had to sacrifice her 9-5 job to spend the rest of the day with Alex kids. She told them that they were very blessed and fortunate because where she came from, on the dusty streets of KZN, there were no opportunities.

“You guys are very blessed that you are getting people who come here and deliver everything for you guys. So, you have to grab these opportunities.

“Imagine someone with three degrees sitting home being unemployed, how about someone with no matric? How about someone who doesn’t even have a grade 10? It’s rough, so if you are given opportunities, grab them with your both hands. Maybe someone will leave here with a scholarship or bursary. We are giving you this information for free,” she said.

She told the learners that she was now a qualified accountant. However, she indicated that she had to work three times harder, pushed herself to study more and sometimes slept for two hours.

“I know how to study and sleep for two hours. When I was in matric, I had to study hard to get a scholarship in order to change my situation at home.”

She gave an example of some of the things she has accomplished through her very uncomfortable studies. “When you get out of here, there’s a car, Mercedes Benz, that’s my car. I bought it myself because I studied hard.

“I’m not saying this because I’m bragging. I’m saying it because I want you inspired. I want you to tell yourself that being from Alex it doesn’t mean anything. You can also do it because I did it.

“Because of my marks, Eskom asked me which University I wanted to go to and I chose Wits. My math and accounting were A’s. I studied hard and sacrificed a lot. I lost friends because my focus was to change my home background,” she said.

Mbatha is the founder and director of Esther The Light Foundation, a non-profit organization she established last year.

She says she believes that everyone carries a light. “If you carry this light, it’s not for yourself, but for other people. When you carry a certain light, you need to shine it so that everyone can receive the light,” she said.

She told Alex Reporter that believes in education. “I come from a very bad background and I made a commitment to myself that when I’m done studying and working, I will pay the company by helping someone else because “I can’t pay Eskom”.

She stated that the event was her first project and that she wanted to devote her first project to Alex youth.

“To the matriculants, there’s a light that everyone carries. If you fail, it’s not the end of the world. Failure must teach you something. It must make you look around and see where you are doing wrong.

“But it’s possible…you can do it. No matter where you come from, your background doesn’t define you. The sky is the limit. You can be anything you want to be. It’s all in your mind.

“Your greatest enemy is yourself, not someone else. Once you doubt yourself, once you carry this fear, you are not going to make it. You need to overcome fear and doubt. But without God, you cannot do anything,” she said.

Esther started as a TV talk show on GNF TV. She says the foundation is just a wing of GNF TV that focuses mainly on the challenges many women and girls face.

Another guest speaker was Dr Zinhle ‘ZEE’ Mtsweni, who has a degree in medicine and surgery, motivated the learners that everything was possible despite obstacles.

The married woman surprised the learners when she said she had not yet turned 30, which suggested they were being addressed by their peer.

Originally from Mpumalanga, she stated that she did not believe she would ever become a doctor.

She says that a certain teacher encouraged her to think that it was possible that she would become what she wanted to become if she thought of it.

“It all starts in the mind. From the mind it becomes an action, action becomes a habit and a habit will become a lifestyle,” said Zee.

Her matric results were not good and it was impossible for her to be accepted at the University of Pretoria. She says the delay is not the end of the road because she ended up being accepted into medical school at the same university after improving her marks.