Linako Sbike’s academic and leadership potential will see her move‚ next year‚ into a posh boarding school in Gauteng from the five-room shack she lives in with her parents‚ younger brother and two cousins in the Eastern Cape.
Linako‚ 13‚ and fellow Eastern Cape pupil Kuhle Morongo‚ 12‚ have been accepted into the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls after a stringent selection process which included assessment tests‚ interviews and home visits‚ the Daily Dispatch reports.
Linako's mother‚ Nontsikelelo Sbike‚ said: “She has always performed well at school‚ had big dreams and aspirations‚ which we supported‚ and now those dreams are beginning to come true.”
Kuhle‚ who lives in a rented RDP home in Linge township near Mdantsane‚ lost her father in 2016. Her mother‚ Fikiswa Morongo‚ is a second-year social science student at the University of Fort Hare.
“There were hard times‚ but I never stopped dreaming. I would like to advise others who might find themselves in a similar situation to never stop dreaming and never give up. Anything is possible‚” Kuhle told the Dispatch.
She wants to be an environmental engineer‚ while Linako dreams of becoming a neurologist.
-Daily Dispatch
