CAPE TOWN - A 29-year-old homeless man who did not give up on his dreams despite adversity, has been awarded a fully funded PhD admission in Canada.
The man, who asked that his name be withheld, was recently awarded his Master’s and has now been accepted on a scholarship to do his PhD in Canada in September.
A resident at the Elim Night Shelter in Elsies River, he said with no source of funding and nothing to fall back on, he had applied for his Master’s education in South Africa in 2017.
“I eked out just enough money to pay for my flight to South Africa and arrived in January 2018. As I suspected, as an international student, I was not allowed to register for the semester without paying the full tuition,” he said.
“With that began my almost two-year journey of working odd jobs - bartending, security guarding - to get money to pay for my tuition fees. After the first year in South Africa with little savings to show, I decided to live in homeless shelters to maximise my savings.
“After another year in shelters, ‘stealing trains to and from work’ and spending the bare minimum. I was able to save the required R45 000 needed to register for the first year of my Master’s programme in January 2020,“ he said.
He said when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he lost most of his odd jobs.
“While it meant I could study from home and reduce costs, it also meant I could not work and save money for the second-year tuition fees of my master’s programme.
“In one of the good fortunes to befall me in South Africa, I received a full scholarship to cover my tuition fees for the second year by the end of my first year in school. The funding was not enough to cover living expenses, so I continued living at the shelter, which I had honestly become fond of and survived largely by the generosity of a few special people who took a shine to me,“ he said.
While at the shelter, he studied daily, even on days when the shelter was bursting at the seams during lockdown.
“Towards the end of my Master’s programme I started applying for full funding in various universities worldwide. A few months after graduating from my Master’s programme, I was fortunate to receive a fully funded PhD admission in Canada.
“If I can say anything, it is this: anything you believe and work towards is possible. I came to a foreign country with no friends and family. I have slept in the streets and gone days without eating. I have scrimped and I have saved, forgoing ephemeral pleasures to work towards a goal,” he said.
Activist for the homeless and community worker, Toni Tresadern, said: “As people sleep in dormitories in night shelters, this gent used a small computer room to study in, and to write his online examinations. On many occasions the room was full of other residents charging their phones, making it very difficult to focus on his studies and exams with all the noise surrounding him.
“I first thought he was reading, and when curiosity got the better of me, I asked him what he was doing, and was blown away when I heard he was studying,“ Tresadern said.
Elim Night Shelter chairperson Louis de Jager said they had assisted the young man with reduced shelter fees and a number of good Samaritans have assisted in sponsoring his stay.
“His tenacity and hard work has paid off, and we wish him all the success,“ said de Jager.
To assist the student, contact the shelter on 061 414 8993.
Cape Times