Nicolette Dirk
A COUPLE who live in someone’s backyard and have beaten the odds are to graduate with diplomas from UCT next week.
But they are not the only graduates who have overcome adversity – after fleeing Rwanda, a refugee living in Cape Town will graduate with a Master’s degree in agronomy at Stellenbosch University on Tuesday.
John Kadende obtained his BSc degree in agriculture 25 years ago at the National University of Rwanda.
The genocide that ripped his country apart forced him to flee shortly after graduating.
“It’s a miracle that my wife, two sons and I survived. When your country’s president, prime minister and army commander are killed, you believe you are next.
“God must have spared me for a reason. I was 27 years old when it happened and I still feel the hurt,” he said.
He struggles to speak about how his home was destroyed and how he spent 20 days in hiding as many of his friends were killed.
When he arrived in South Africa, Kadende could not speak English and survived by fixing household appliances from a small workshop in Mitchells Plain.
Kadende, 48, started studying full-time in 2012 at Stellenbosch University. His two sons, Japhia, 22, and Christian, 23, have followed in their father’s footsteps.
Japhia is in his third year, studying for a BCom in economics at UWC and Christian is a third-year mechanical engineering student at CPUT.
“My way of thanking South Africa, for giving me a home when I didn’t have one, is to use my skills to help people farming in rural areas,” said Kadende.
For Beacon Valley resident Faeza Meyer, the road to a diploma in adult education from UCT was not any easier. She dropped out of school in Grade 9 and was then forced to live on the streets, where she was a drug user and often a victim of physical abuse.
“When my first husband left, I had to juggle three jobs that included selling beads I made. I did whatever I had to to feed my three children,” she recalled.
Today she lives in the backyard of a family member’s house with her husband, Ebrahim Fourie, who will also be graduating next week.
They met in 2011 when they were both addicted to drugs. But Meyer said their love helped them survive while rehabilitating each other.
They both made the Dean’s list for their adult education diplomas.
Meyer wrote a journal about her experience of living on the street, which she hopes will be published.
“It reflects life on the streets where you sometimes don’t have food or water,” said Meyer.
“At one informal settlement our home was the size of a single bed. I want to share this experience with others.”