Background for Rakholile 'Kenneth' Thato

My name is Thato Kenneth Rakholile I live in Kanana South Africa in the NorthWest, with my single parent mother Anna Rakholile and four younger siblings. I grew up in the ghetto. I was surrounded by drugs and crime. Most classmates that lived around me left school because of drugs and crime related matters. My father, Gabriel Rakholile, passed away in 2010-10-14 and the worst thing is that he died on the day that I was taking my written test.     

I started schooling at Vaal Reefs at the school called United Primary School however it was only for a year. My parents transferred me to local school called Bathabile Primary School for my second grade and unfortunately I repeated because I lost grandmother that year and had to take too much time away from school. I started my grade 8 at Thuto Tsebo Secondary School; it was very challenging for me.

The challenge was not the course work but the school was not managed very well and many students did not go to class, they were up to no good all the time. I made it through with some hard work.

FAMILY LIFE

Life at home has been very difficult for all of us. My father, the sole bread winner, got very sick in 2009 and lost his job. In the later part of 2010 he passed away. It has been hard me and my siblings not having him around see our successes and having his support in our failures. Without my father my mother has had to raise five kids on her own. She has been unable to find work so we survive on the children’s grants from the government.  Being the oldest I have at times helped out supporting the family with work around Klerksdrop, the large city near Kanana.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

I love education and learning. I look forward graduating from the World Disaster Management Community College (WDMCC) and then going on to get a teaching degree from the university. I have always loved teaching, one of the gifts God has blessed me with.  I love presenting knowledge in front of groups of people and see them gain understanding into something new.

My experiences at the WDMCC

I have always wanted to go to University but when the time came I found I did not have any money to go. I was so excited to learn about the WDMCC and the ability to further my educational background, even though I had no idea what Disaster Management was.

The first weeks of school were very difficult because I did not understand much about disaster management and it was very hard to understand what was going on without a teacher around. White, our student leader, did his best to lead our class discussion but it was so hard. We had a lack of materials and the expectations that where set at our first meeting with Miss Jan, and Miss Kay where not being met. With all of these issues the discipline in the class at times became hard for White to handle on his own. With these challenges a number of our classmates dropped out.

Things changed when Mr. Landon Densley came from America. The college started to get on track and I started to really understand what disaster management was all about. He came with a form of education that was new to me. He said that we are going to be in class to understand not to memorize what he was teaching us. It was not enough to know a fact we had to understand how to apply what we were going to learn.

Still, at times, it is a challenge for me to understand some of the courses we are learning; but I am holding on because I am very persistent and I know that success requires passion and determination.

CHOICES TO COME

Even though things have been difficult for me I am working hard to understand and push myself so that I can succeed.  I plan on graduating from the WDMCC and continue on at a University. I want to teach other students about disaster management and help grow this college to others in our township.  

HIGHLIGHTS

The highlights in the first semester for me where when we had our first meeting with various stakeholders; such as: the police department, community members, and the school at large. The School asked us to write their Emergency Operations Plan. We started with introductions and we got to tell everyone there who we were and what our school was doing.  Putting together this plan has been a lot of work. We have done a threats and risk assessment looking at the different hazards and vulnerabilities around the school. We have met with some of the people from the Disaster Management Center and the Fire Department. It has been great to have their help in our school. 

LOW LIGHTS

The last semester was very difficult for me because I had to leave school early for a part time job. Life at home required me to help support my family more then I was expecting. When I heard from the other students that they got the internet and they were taking test from FEMA, I mean they even showed me the FEMA Certificates, I was so very jealous.  I told myself that I would work as hard as I could to pass every course and get each certificate.

SECOND SEMESTER

I have been so excited to start the second semester so that I could focus on the lessons and study hard. I am going to get those certificates. I want to gain as much knowledge as I can and really understand emergency management. This semester we are learning so much, we have this blog and are learning about social media in emergency management. We are also starting something the Mr. Landon calls CERT or Community Emergency Response Teams training. We are starting with a three week course from the Fire Department trainer. We hope to be able to be trained so that if the Fire Department needs extra support we could help out. Not fight fires but in other ways.