“She did not receive much support from the department of education, I don’t want to lie. I had to fight. She would say, ‘Mom, you are my voice, my feet and my eyes’, and once she said that, I knew I had to get up and get help for her,” Zoleka said.
For years, their pleas for help fell on deaf ears.
Zoleka said all the devices her daughter had used to study had been sponsored. They had been waiting for department assistance since 2017.
“The national department finally came through to attend to her situation in October 2019. At the time, I had even given up praying,” said Zoleka.
While she was not sure what her daughter had achieved, Zoleka said they were proud of her as, despite all the odds, Sebabalwe had succeeded.
Zoleka said her daughter studied very hard throughout the year, at times not sleeping at all.
“I would wake up at 3am and find her still sitting where I left her, studying,” said Zoleka.
Sebabalwe is hoping to further her studies in Pretoria this year.