Her story – Sinovuyo Mbobo

Acquiring an education has always been an important part of my life. After all, both my maternal grandmother and mother were teachers, so this was a no-brainer, right? They believed that it would open doors for me and expose me to countless opportunities; opportunities they never had. 

Born in an era when it was frowned upon for a girl child to go to school, my grandmother defied the odds and studied to become a teacher. She taught for over 40 years. Although married, she was often left alone to raise my mother and her two brothers while my grandfather worked as a mine nurse in Gauteng and North West Province, and would be gone for months. 

My mother, on the other hand, was raised in a world with limited exposure and where the most affordable study options were to either become a nurse or a teacher. She, too, studied to become a dedicated teacher for 27 years. Shortly after she started working and at the age of 23, I was born. All alone with a child and barely making ends meet, she worked hard to ensure I received the best education, and that I had a different life than hers. In the same way, her mother had ensured that she was educated and independent. 

My mother enrolled me at a former model C school, and would often break the bank just to pay for camp or my extra classes and extramural activities. When I passed matric, my mother cautioned me that she was sending me out to the university for only four years. Anything beyond that she would not be able to afford. Yet, through it all, I’d be lying if said I knew right away what I wanted to become. All I knew was that I was accepted for an extended programme at the University of the Free State, where I would be studying for a Bachelor of Agriculture. And so off I went!

At the end of my first year, my mother resigned as a teacher so she could cash in her pension and pay for my tuition fees. If I’d taken my privileges for granted before, that year opened my eyes to the fact that the baton had indeed been passed on to me. I became acutely aware that (1) graduating is a privilege not everyone gets to experience, (2) that I had to break boundaries, if not for myself, then for these two women in my life who were determined to defy the odds and create a better future for those who would succeed them. I will never forget the pride in my mother’s voice when I called towards the end of my first year to tell her I would be receiving a top achiever award. I doubt she even heard or understood what the award was for! To her, what stood out was that I would be getting an award at university! That was unheard of amongst my people and my family! This was it, her hard work and sacrifices were proving to have been worth it!

I obtained a bursary with the Industrial Development Corporation in my second year, which covered everything from tuition to accommodation and meals. They were prepared to fund me to Master’s level, providing that my marks remained high. This was another huge win for my family and me. More importantly, the bursary allowed me to assist my mother, who had now also moved to Bloemfontein with my little sister and was now working as a teacher at a private school. Though employed again, she was earning far less than what she had been earning as a government teacher back home in the Eastern Cape. When I say this bursary was a huge win for my family and me, I mean exactly that! 

It was also in my second year that I was able to select my major, and so I opted to major in Agricultural Economics. Did I have my life all figured out by now and know where I was headed after graduating? No, not at all! All I knew was that I had to keep moving forward and that I had to graduate. I received my “degree obtained” results at beginning of January 2019, and it would take another three months for the news to sink in! Weird, I know but you see, I immediately enrolled and started attending classes for my Honour’s Degree shortly after receiving my results. My mother had taken over the preparations for my graduation ceremony in April, inviting everyone she deemed important. 

I remember how unreal the morning of my graduation ceremony felt. As loved ones who had travelled from home in the Eastern Cape surrounded me, helping me to get ready and taking pictures at every moment, I kept waiting for that “this is it, it’s finally happening” moment to hit me! Oh, was my mother over the moon! She was “uMama weGraduate (mother of a graduate)” All dressed up in my pink two-piece, cap, and gown, I joined my classmates and other faculty graduates on campus. We did a lap around the Callie Human Centre as loved ones, university students and lecturers cheered us on. Somewhere between walking through the guard of honour at the door and stepping inside “Callie” as some of our loved ones sat on the grandstands, “the moment” hit me! I let out a sigh as waves of emotions came rushing through me. This was it! My grandmother and mother had indeed paved the way for me, and I had done them proud! 

My Honours graduation ceremony was scheduled for April 2020 but unfortunately, the Covid-19 restrictions were enforced before then (South Africa implemented national lockdown in March 2020). Nonetheless, this too was yet another huge accomplishment for my family and for me. Little did I know that I would soon find myself as another “statistic” of unemployed graduates in South Africa. Just like that, I had to move back home as I searched for a job. I received an internship in Johannesburg in March; however, it was only for three months. I found myself back at home again and would remain unemployed for five more months. These were five very long months! Were my grandmother and mother’s sacrifices all in vain?

In a world where all the odds were against them, these women are the epitome of resilience; of making lemonade out of the lemons life threw at them. I too could do it! And so in October 2020, I accepted a part-time job as a Teaching Assistant at a local school. At the beginning of 2021, the school permanently hired me as an Aftercare Assistant. Grateful to simply be able to wake up and earn a living each day, I showed up every day and gave it my all while I also sent out job application after job application. 

Fast forward to today, I work in the climate change and biodiversity conservation field at a local NPO in Northern Cape, Indigo development & change. My career is finally kicking off, and this in a field I never thought I’d find myself in. Though still relevant to what I studied, as Agricultural Economics is quite a broad field, I can explore and unleash my full potential through all the opportunities I have access to because of the sacrifices made for me to acquire an education.  I continue to spread their wings and fly as I expand my knowledge, skills, and experience in this field. 

When all is said and done, do I have it all figured out now? No. I don’t think we ever do. I continue to rewrite my story every day and work on myself daily to become my best version, personally and professionally. Yet, all of this – all these privileges and opportunities – wouldn’t be possible without education. 

“You must learn to trust that there is a future waiting for you that is beyond what you might be able to grasp at this present moment.”