Andrew
Youth Buzz
Fatima Bulla-Musakwa
HERITAGE School outgoing head boy Nkosilathi Dube, who has been trending on social media for the past fortnight after his speech went viral, is one of the rare outstanding gems the school churns out now and again.
This is a description of the 18-year-old that one of the teachers at the school gave.
Nkosilathi’s life story captured the hearts of many as he narrated his family’s riches-to-rags experience before school staff, fellow students and parents.
Unexpected of his age, Nkosilathi exudes an aura of maturity to handle life issues, wisdom to give advice and focus on the things that matter the most.
Coming from a mixed background of a mother who grew up in the city and a father with a rural upbringing, Nkosilathi attributes these experiences as factors that have built his identity.
His place at Heritage School came through a scholarship that he was granted for playing rugby. From Grade One to Seven, he learnt at Highlands Primary School, where he excelled in different sports.
He committed to playing rugby when he was in Grade Six and a door opened for him a year later when a tournament was held at Heritage School.
There, two coaches identified him as a talented rugby player with a bright future. From then on, the rest was history as he got the scholarship of US$1 500, which was half of his school fees. This surpassed his expectations, as he had planned to enrol at Churchill or Prince Edward schools, which charged fees that were more affordable.
By then Nkosilathi’s parents were living in Sentosa, Malbereign.
“But this opportunity came with a price. It meant that my family had to use up to the last savings they had just to make sure they would be able to pay the other US$1 500 a term. So, it meant that this was draining funds which were meant to cover my sister’s needs. All the needs of the family were just centred and invested in me,” Nkosilathi, who has one sibling, Nonkazi Moyo, said.
The family had the best time of their life then, with Nkosilathi’s father running a well-performing company while his mother’s professional career was also flourishing.
Things, however, took a turn when his father expanded his business interests and events that followed led to the investment faltering.
On the other hand, his mother found herself being retrenched. Fortunately, prior to the wane in their financial fortunes, Nkosilathi’s parents had acquired a stand in Epworth, where they had to move to. While this was a starting point for the family, the standard of living plummeted, leaving the youngster grappling with their new reality.
“We were lucky that we had a well, where we got safe water. There was no electricity. At night, we used to sit down together as a family and listen to music from my mum’s phone. As for lighting, we used torches,” added Nkosilathi.
Despite being a head boy of an elite school, back home, he slept on a couch.
For almost four years, he had to also adjust to a new way of life in his studies.
This meant that he had to commute from Epworth to Borrowdale Brooke.
In order to make it to school on time, Nkosilathi had to wake up at 4am, bath and eat before embarking on a 5km walk to the main road where he got commuter omnibuses into town.
From the main road, he caught the fastest commuter omnibus to arrive, which either dropped him at the Simon Muzenda Street rank. If he was fortunate enough, the commuter omnibus would drive straight to Borrowdale Brooke.
On another day, he would have to drop off at Helensvale shops where he got another commuter omnibus to the school gate.
The first few days he felt so ashamed of what he was going through that he would make sure he was the first person to arrive at school before his peers came. Most of them are brought to school in fancy cars by their parents.
Nkosilathi would go about the usual routine at school and felt as a normal child until it was time to go home. Then reality would strike again.
“Everyone was being picked up by their parents. And I would feel ashamed for people to see me standing at the bus top. So, I would make sure that I was the last person to leave. That was around 5.30pm and I got home around 7.30 pm.”
The bitter-sweet experiences united the family back home. However, neighbours in the suburb alienated them as they were suspicious of the seemingly affluent family’s presence in the area. The routine continued, a process which gradually started changing Nkosilathi’s inner convictions. He turned from being a C to an A student. He attained 7As and 2Bs at O-Level.
The family conversations and Bible teachings came in handy as they groomed him to be a grounded person. Nkosilathi acknowledged members of the community who supported him in various ways. He owed it to the English teacher who positively influenced his attitude, leading to his transformation to achieve better grades in the subject.
As Nkosilathi writes his final year examinations, his hopes are pinned on getting another life-changing scholarship so that he can be able to study Electrical Engineering or Computer Science.
Online Reporter