“Hey wena, don’t be like me, when you are my age, you must be a businessman or woman.”
This is Meisie Mathebula (43) motivating her children when they mock her doing homework with them in the afternoons. Meisie is not ustered. “When they tell me they did this at Grade 3, I tell them just make sure you study now, and learn as much as you can.”
Meisie is married and a stay-at-home mom to three children. While she accepts and manages her household chores and routine, Meisie relishes her Adult Education and Training (AET) classes at the Palabora Foundation.
“Our facilitator, Gloria, is a great motivator. She tells you not to think you are too old, or to undermine others, or that you are not good enough, or that you do not have this or that, but that AET is free and can open your future.”
Meisie started with AET at the Foundation in 2016. She hopes to complete Level 4 in Mathematics, Nature Science and English Communication by the end of 2017. She graduated in Life Orientation Level 4 in April, “and I felt so happy.”
“If they wanted me to make a speech, I would have been speechless!”
The occasion was all the more remarkable as both Meisie and her eldest daughter, Eulandah (23), received certificates. “It motivates us.”
Both Meisie and Eulandah want to do the Further Learning Certificate programme after completing AET, that will open doors to “any learnerships at the Palabora Copper Mine.”
