Granny beats odds to follow her dream

Princess Seunang passed Grade 12 last year. Soon she will start her tertiary studies.

But Seunang is 27 years older than most of her classmates. This grandmother of two, who has an ardent desire to serve her community, beat incredible odds to enrol at Stellenbosch University.

Until last year, the 45-year-old was a security guard.

"I realised that I wanted to become a social worker when my cousin tried to commit suicide and the system failed her. On that Friday all the social workers in Stellenbosch were in a meeting," she said. "I had to support her all by myself."

The mother of three lives in a shack in Kayamandi, one of the oldest townships in the Western Cape.

According to NGO Vision Afrika, there are 30000 people living in the township, which is besieged by alcoholism, drug abuse and "a high incidence of one-parent households".

Seunang also became a single mother at a young age.

"In our culture women are raised to marry and become mothers. When my first husband left me years ago, I had to provide for myself and my children. I had to start working as a security guard."

But she has found happiness again, remarried, passed matric and got a bursary.

"I feel free, like a burden has been lifted off my shoulders. My dream has come true. I want to tell women that there is life after hardship."

Last week she was among 5000 first-year students with big dreams.

"The university needs your spirit and stories, and through hard work and discipline dreams come true and you can change the world," Dr Greg Ricks, a senior fellow at the university, told students.