The next few days went by pretty much the same, until I picked up my first book. I don’t remember the title, but I do remember that it didn’t have many pictures, and I surprisingly loved it. Reading that first book of mine was the first time I fell in love with English. I read a few more books after that, and I pestered my teacher to help me pronounce the words — I couldn’t ask any of the kids because most of them viewed me as an outcast. My ability in English skyrocketed.
I was never able to truly shout out to the world what I believed SA should be like. I was always shy to tell people where I came from — it was tough being the outlier among many “normal” students. I missed my country — the people, the culture, the music and just the overall feeling of being at home. I was essentially homesick.
Truth be told, SA has given me a decent life. Many foreign students can attest to the same thing. I live in Cape Town with my parents and my older brother and sister, who are both at university. We are more fortunate than many of my immigrant peers and friends, but this is only due to my parents’ ceaseless hard work. The truth is that as an immigrant, you have to work much harder than the average South African for the same success.
I am in grade 12 and my school life has improved. I have become quite studious and have found my niche in writing and physics, especially mechanics. I owe my passion for writing partly to my English teacher, who was the first person to believe in my writing. Even with 90% in pure maths, 80% in physics and a consistent “A” average, I have had many bursary applications declined by state-owned companies like Sasol due to my non-South African citizenshipI know that something will come through for me, but man, is it hard! I’ve seen many smart and dedicated foreign students resigning themselves to a life of waitressing or working in retail due to the unavailability of funding for tertiary studies.
True,those batteries being stolen out of vodacom and mtn towers daily are very heavy,south Africans won't cope..😕