I tuned off the school principal’s voice at this point, ignoring his excited gestures and flying spittle.
I was eight then. The man came out of nowhere, and I remember pain, horror, screaming, torn clothes, more screaming…It was only afterwards, in the hospital, that I understood what had happened to me. Twenty years ago the society wasn’t exactly sympathetic towards rape victims; it still isn’t today.
Principal Govender’s voice pulled me back to reality. I stood up to the pitiful round of applause, and walked up the stage. As I looked down, half the students were dozing off; and most of the other half had a snicker on their face. I putted on a smile, and began to tell my story in a grave voice: how I struggled to live with my past; how my family gave me hope and support; how, after years of hard work, I finally became the head of the leading car manufacturing plant with Toyota, It is a boring old story, nothing unheard of before. And if this speech managed to inspire even one of these students, it would be nothing short of a miracle.
Of course, there are things that a high school guest speaker just cannot include in his speech. For example, the way my mother indulged in various substances after my “incident”, and my father and I never sent her to the rehabilitation centre for the fear of even more publicity. Or better, how I found my puppy strangled and hung from a tree one day. The thoughts were playing in my head, like the various explosions in an engine moving the pistons back and forth. Suddenly there was just a moment of silence. I realized how Oprah used honesty with her followers that’s how she was able to inspire, not just them, but the world.
A billion rand spark hit me and I began to preach to each and every student. As their eyes began to open and chin began to lift, “I told them everything about my childhood, and how after my ‘incident’ I had no one to support me until I was in this very school, the teachers began to reach out to me. Inspiring me every step of the way, never neglecting me because of my past, instead they helped guide me to do exceptionally well in my final year because of everyone believing in me.” I began to see student’s connecting to me as if we united as a mother and her new born baby. I told them that, “we all need people that will inspire us and motivate us to move forward in life. My inspiration was, South African born, Elon Musk and the support of my teachers who helped me with who I am today.” Lastly I thanked my teachers and dismissed myself.
There was that spark in me which was the exact same spark that motivated me to where I am today. Now I have used all to motivate everyone who doesn’t believe they can do it because of their previous experiences.
Finally when I am about to leave a young girl comes to me and informs me she is a rape victim. I see tears in her innocent little face, like man has cracked a hole beneath the ocean floors and leaks into the Earth’s core. I grab the innocent little angel and hug her, and right there I made a vow that I would help her through every journey and every mountain she needs to overcome in life and I won’t stop till her dreams are answered.
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