Tumelo Mashigo, a 2017 matriculant, overcame all the odds and worked hard to become the second-best performing special needs learner in South Africa. Next… The Presidency!
Tumelo Mashigo is an inspirational Matriculant, to say the least! He overcame fear and bullying and worked phenomenally hard to achieve high marks in his Matric year.
Tumelo was born with phocomelia which is a birth defect where the hands and feet are attached to shortened arms and legs. Tumelo found it difficult growing up. The other children around him were afraid of his difference and often became cruel in the form of bullying and exclusion.
“I did not have enough friends because many kids were scared.”
“In primary school, I was a victim of bullying, I was bullied a lot. I just took that as an opportunity to improve in other sections like school work,”
He refused to give up on life and instead turned his focus towards his education. He excelled in it! As the years went by, things got better for him and at 18, he is in the best space of his life. He was named as one of the top matriculants of 2017, proving that hard work, focus and determination pays off.
“It feels great. I’m extremely excited,” he said. “It’s actually overwhelming. I’m out of words.”
“I believe this is the start of something great,”
Tumelo is planning to use this momentum to be the change that South Africa needs. His end goal is to become President but for the time being, he is focussed on studying. He plans to study International Relations, as this will help many people. He has some sound advice for learners following in his footsteps:
“Nothing is impossible. If you put your mind to it, nothing is impossible,
Watch his inspirational interview with News24 below.
Sources: News24
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