Born at Hillandale Farm in Haga-Haga, Onke spent his early years of his life on the farm. He went to extensions farm school after a taste of pre-school at Peffervile where he came again half a year for grade 6, before his mother’s passing. “Going to Byletts Combined School, yet another farm school, with all I’ve had in plan with my late mother failing after her passing. A naughty boy I was, grade 8 & 9, I remember being late for classes after brake. Serving punishment with my friend, the teacher would make us stand by the door with one foot and had to answer a question for EMS. After few days of realizing I was always leaving my friend by that door, I decided to cheat, I would whisper the answer to him, then I would catch the next question”, he said.
When did your student mentoring journey start? ““The mentoring started when I set foot at university, in 2012. I started off by giving applications, along with brochure’s, to some friends I left behind at Byletts Combined School- the high school I went to. Then in 2013, I began advising a few students who were doing grade 10 while I was in matric in 2011. Most of them had looked up to not just me but the group I was with at grade 12. At the beginning of 2021, while I was an Educator assistant in a local school, due to my education background the school asked me to teach Maths at grade 11, and while my colleague would focus on grade 10. This is where I met not only the three, I am currently mentoring, but other amazing students who were not happy when I had to leave due to the great impact, I already had in them and their studies”.
How has the mentoring journey of these 3 been? “Mentoring is never easy, but since I had done it for some time – I always knew that to get to them I had to get to their psyche. Tapping into one’s psyche can be difficult, but I had outlined to them how the schooling journey is and how life can be. I used to motivate them by a guy I cannot mention, we went to the same high school but he was a grade ahead of me. The guy was not the straight A, I think he was average or below average but he had work ethic. Because of his work ethic, after matriculating with a D, today he is a quantity surveyor. I never ended any conversation I had without telling them that they had what it takes to make it but they just needed to unleash it. They had the potential”.
Lastly, mentorship – how important is it for one to have a mentor and what kind of person should the mentor be? “So, for me a mentor is a life coach. At least for the period. This is someone you can talk to about almost anything, especially that affects the journey the mentor is taking you through. A mentor would be someone who has walked your journey, has a clear understanding of what you’re going through and has the ability to position themselves in your shoes. To illustrate this, I don’t think anyone from a privileged background can ever mentor someone from a disadvantaged background better than the previously disadvantaged mentor. For me, I’ve been in their positions (or similar) before, which makes it easy. I remember sometimes I’d wake up and send them random texts, after I left the school, I’d send them what I think would have motivated me if I was in their position”.