Cebo's Story

The feeding scheme at Chintsa East School provides much needed nutrition to the children. Staffed by the dedicated team of Buhle and Celiwe who do battle every school day to provide 180 meals on a single hob stove, the kitchen is a bustling hive of activity come 11.30am. But there is another face in the kitchen at lunch time. It is the face of Cebo, a young boy of 14 who gives up his lunch hour to help by serving the younger children. No one has ever asked him to help. He simply saw the need and took upon himself to do so.

During computer literacy classes provided in the Friends of Chintsa Big Green E-Machine Cebo is often the one helping others. He is by no means the brightest in the class and struggles with his spelling and reading. But his attitude: it’s inspiring to see. Forever polite and constantly at pains to assist others in any way he can, I cannot be but astounded by the maturity of this young man. He is quite simply, exceptional. I find it difficult when thinking of my childhood to recall an equal. 

But this is far from the beginning of the story. And, I am sure a great deal further from the end. So let us move back just twenty four months for a difficult and, quite frankly, depressing prelude.

Kuhle (Cebo's mother) had not had an easy life. Her husband left her with three young children living in a small shack in an isolated rural area with no amenities and no neighbours. Drugs and alcohol were her respite from a difficult existence. And then she was gone. No one knew her reasons for leaving, least of all the three children she left behind. But she had, and so Cebo found himself as the head of the household aged just 12. With no food, no parents and 10 miles from the local school he was soon expelled for truancy and left wondering the streets looking for help.

A few months later Cebo had moved himself, his 10 year old brother and his 6 year old sister to a disused shack in Chintsa Village. The toll was heavy and Cebo, having fallen in with an older crowd, was to be found daily wandering around the town high and drunk.  

It took Cebo’s younger brother, Jama, to initiate a dramatic change. He approached a local teacher who helped enrol the children at the local school. But the most dramatic change took place in just a few short weeks.

Cebo and his brother were welcomed into the Unstressed Surf School as children requiring help. Within weeks Cebo’s life had changed direction. And with it that of his young family. Under the guidance of an inspirational mentor, Cebo has become a proud, confident and kind teenager. He has learnt to smile and enjoy life as a child. He has learnt the value of friendship, comradeship and dedication. He has learnt all these traits and more while at the same time becoming a confident swimmer and a truly talented surfer!  

His mother has since returned and some semblance of a normal childhood with it. Cebo dreams of becoming a surf instructor one day and is currently working on his English to help him in this quest.  The change we have seen in Cebo has inspired us all at Friends of Chintsa. We are fantastically proud of him and we hope you are too! 

If you want support the Unstressed Surf School in helping more children like Cebo please visit our Website, donate on givengain or follow our updates on Facebook.

 

- by Ashley Brooks