Olwetu Jikijela

Dear Mr. Wolff

Thank you for the Scholarship. When I heard that I received a scholarship I was very excited to see that even to this day there are still people like you, who still care about the future and well being of students in the previously disadvantaged institutions. Thank you once again because I know that you could have chosen another institution but you chose our university and to me that is a motivation to excel in my academics so that I can also do similar projects for the students in the rural areas.

I was born in the former Transkei region of the Eastern Cape Province, living there with my grandparents and my other five siblings and close to 20 cousins because our parents had to work. We lived as a big happy family and out of those harsh living conditions in the rural areas, I became a better person and my background has given me a good sense of direction. I moved to East London after passing grade 9 and for the first time, I saw the world in a different way. I started in an English first language and Afrikaans second language school and that was not easy for some one who had just come from a Xhosa first language and part-time English school. My strive for better living conditions awarded me an exemption in matric and to me that was a great achievement.

After matric I came straight to Cape Town and that is when I heard about the University of the Western Cape. Since first year I did not want to involve myself in any activities which were not part of the church, but that changed last year, when I heard about the U.W.C HIV/AIDS Programme. I went for an interview and I was accepted as a Peer Educator. Those were great news to me because I felt that it is what I’ve always wanted to do with my life. At the same time I am involved with Ses’khona, another HIV/AIDS Programme which is affiliated with Students’ Christian Organization and in this Programme we deal with HIV/AIDS using God’s Word (the bible).

I am currently doing fourth year pharmacy (final year) and I am also a tutor and lab assistant for both 2nd and 3rd year Pharmacology students. This is a very interesting post in that my level of knowledge in Pharmacology is also expanding in a very tremendous way.

After doing my internship, which I wish to do in Gauteng Province, I want to go back to the community that I grew up in and implement all that I have acquired during that period I was away from home.

Thank you for awarding me this opportunity and may you keep doing the great things you have done for us even for other students.

Yours’ truly,
Olwetu Jikijela