She is a young lady with a vision. To become a lawyer and to take care of her family. In her words, “I want to support and provide for them” says Chuma Gift Manene, one of our matriculants who is only 17 years old.
She lost her mother – her rolemodel who raised her with love and taught her to be responsible and stand up for herself – a few years ago. She moved in with family in 2018 and says she got the best advice from her ‘grandmother’, her mom’s aunt, last year. This advice was to focus on herself, to study, pursue her goals and do well in life.
Chuma likes working with people and children and until she can pursue her studies, Chuma will assist Sally and Nezzy at the Usapho Indlu after school reading program. When she turns 18 in June, she will apply to join the community-based, youth-focused Yeboneers program because she has seen how alcohol negatively affects people. Her purpose in working with young learners in her community is to “encourage them to do better.” In the meantime, Chuma will help the smaller children to read, write and improve their vocabularly every afternoon at the reading program.
As a young girl, Chuma admits she was naughty and loved playing…preferrably amongst the boys where there was less drama! These days she says she is a quieter person, who is shy, and prefers her own space.
In her spare time she enjoys watching tv, especially an Afrikaans soapie called Doodsondes. When asked why she enjoys it, especially as its not broadcast in Xhosa or English, she says the storyline is good and she enjoys learning a different language.
Like many youngsters Coke and chicken are favourites and when it came to school subjects, she found English to be the most useful because she could use it in every day life.
When asked about her goals for the next five year, aside from studying law, Chuma would like to own her own house and car and be ”living my best life”.
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