Background for Refilwe Khoza

My name is Refilwe Khoza, I am 19 years old and I live in Kanana which is in the North West province. I started my schooling at Atamela primary school and I went to Mmokeng secondary school. I matriculated in 2011.

After my matric I was so desperate to go to school but I couldn't because of financial problems. I wondered where  would I get the money because my mother is unemployed and my father passed away in 2006; when I was doing my last year at primary school. I was so sad, I felt like my dreams were shuttered and my life was over. I always feel like without education my life is nothing at all. I envied all my friends who were going to universities because they come from rich families who can afford to pay for their studies.

One morning I got a call from my secondary school deputy principal and she asked me if I have managed to go to school. I was so sad to answer that question so I cried instead of answering. She asked me to come to school the next day with my necessary documents. I was so glad because I knew whatever it was it was about school.

The next day I was there early in the morning she didn’t give me details she only told me that there is a learner ship from U.S.A and I will hear all the details on February when the Americans where coming to South Africa. I didn’t even know what Americans she was talking about. I was so desperate and frustrated to hear all about this. I was so impatient it felt like everything was too slow.

February finally came; I was so excited to receive a call from the deputy principal again. She told me that there is a meeting at Matlhaleng secondary school and I have to be there at one o’clock. I made sure that I was the first person to be there.

The Americans

When the Americans arrived I was so glad to see Miss Kay, a very admirable and lovely woman whom I once saw in 2007 when I was in grade 8. She and Miss Jan explained all about a college she called the World Disaster Management Community College. It was so good getting to know both of them and also to hear everything about this college. When they said  the college would start in September I was like oh my God why so long, I thought can’t we start sooner. Anyway what excited me most was that the course was about helping people and it was a course that is so related to my personal background.

I always wanted to do something that involved helping people, saving people’s lives and giving back to my community. I saw this as an opportunity that I had to grab with both hands. I knew that it would also help me to manage my personal life; as I come from a very small family that lives at a very rough place.

There is a high level of corruption where I live and it is well known for crime. I live in a house where there is no electricity, we use fire every day. We have no source of income and we depend on my sister for survival even thou she is also not employed.

This course has really made me realize that I can turn my life around. Because I will now be able to mitigate, prepare, prevent and protect my family and myself from facing disasters. I am learning now that it is very risky to use fire every day and live at a place where there is high crime without having a plan that can help us with things such as evacuations.

September

When September arrived the classes started on the 10^th I was so excited to wake up in the morning to come to school I could already smell the future. When I got to school I was not as happy as I was because things were not as I expected. I was like oh my… is this a joke or what? No computers or internet, I thought, but this is an online course how are we going to study?

Anyway, things were not as bad as I thought because we managed to study. Kay sent us some lessons we took them to class and discussed them together it was so good to learn from each other even thou we have met some challenges.

Then when time goes on Miss Zodwa bought us a printer that can print, copy, scan and fax. Things became easier for us because we were now able to print some notes and study on our own. This really motivated me because it was a sign which showed me that I should persist because more is still coming especially when were told that by November we will be having a teacher from U.S.A by the name of Mr. Landon Densley.

The Arrival

The arrival of Mr. Landon made all of us happy we were so glad to see him and being with him here in Kanana. He is such a loving, caring and supportive person. His contribution has been so valuable to us he helped us with so many things in order for us to overcome the challenges that we met earlier.

He has helped in so many ways. Making sure that we had internet access, that we formed a collaborative team with other stake holders in the community, that we get our ID numbers so that we are able to take the FEMA online tests, and he also personally bought each of us flash drives so that we are able to save our school work.

Second Semester

The second semester is different from the first because everything is now so perfect very soon we will have our students’ cards and we also have access to 24 computers a great thanks to Mr. Craig Carty who delivered the 4 computers for us and thanks to the University of Pennsylvania who donated them and everyone who is involved in this college. I am extremely proud of being a student at this college. 

I see this college as a success. What we need is to just work hard and strive for success. We need to be like eagles because an eagle always focuse on its target and it always fly high. Therefore, I promise that if we continue collaborating and coordinating we will make it because together we can. We will shine like diamonds and we will be the cream of the crop which means bringing change to ourselves, our families, our community and our nation.