Thread by @Chem_X

Hi, My name is Xolani. Yesterday I found out that I owe Standard Bank R209 800 for my student loan.

As scary and sobering this is, I am Grateful. 🙏🏿

To help you understand why I am grateful for owing so much money even though I do not have the slightest clue how I am gonna start paying It back I have to give you a bit of a background story.

After finishing High School I wanted to do Air Traffic Controlling. As you know with government schools more specifically township based ones Career Expos are few and far between, even general information about prospective careers is limited.

So I had to take initiative and do my own research as to what I need, where do I study, costs, etc. I used to take a taxi to town from Orange Farm on weekends while I was still in High School searching for career days, walking into companies asking about bursaries.

I finally found out about this one organization which is the sole provider of Air Traffic Services in the country and they have a yearly training bursary program which they use to train ATCs. I got excited, I applied and even went through their psychometric tests.

Anyway I waited and never got a reply. There are 3 things of significance here.
1. They have one intake a year
2. The Bursary Program recruitment had a set of specific targets for every intake. e.g they could be looking for 15 Females and 3 guys but they will let everyone apply.

3. You could only get in through the Bursary program, no private students.

Note : the sad truth is everything that has to do with Aviation is expensive, that Course alone is round about 800k

Anyway I spent almost 3 years after High School at home. Through out that period I saw my old High School classmates go to Varsity while I was at home hoping to catch the next intake with each and every passing year. That was a difficult period, I felt worthless, depro, u name it

I almost settled and went to university for the sake of going to university, just to belong and feel like I’m doing something with my life. But it was at this stage that I stumbled upon a school which had just recently started offering the same training.

Awu okay so your boy got excited, I told my mom and I started making calls and got a qoute and training cost was R150 000 for 6 MONTHS OF TRAINING.

Here is the thing about Careers which happen to fall out of the mainstream, there is no NSFAS or anything similar to that, it’s either you pay from your own pocket or you are at mercy of bursaries/scholarships/ training program etc...

Within these very same bursary schemes or programs you have to factor in availability and the corruption that goes on behind the scenes, from nepotism (Awarding the bursary to umntwana ka Aunty) , bribery, etc. Basically you are screwed. Meaning my only option was a student loan

Picture this : Boy from Orange Farm, raised by a single and unemployed parent, wants R150 000 in a single payment with no proof of income from the surety, who happens to be the mom... who is raising a family of 15+ including relatives.

Tell me if you will get a student loan.

I went to every financial institution you can think of, Eduloan, NSFAS, BANKS you name it but no luck! I felt cursed that nothing ever goes right in my life, just when i thought I’ve gotten through a hill the next hurdle was Mount Everest. I wanted to give up on life, chill ekasi

But with the support of my mother, family and everyone around me I kept on persisting until I made a break through, Standard Bank finally gave me the amount and used my mother as Surety for the duration of my studies, she had to service the interest until I start working.

For every month while I was at school my mom on top of everything that she had to do hustled the R1400 that they wanted and still managed to send me pocket money once in a while.

My mom supported me even after I finished school and couldn’t find work. When people started talking abo “ukhiphe imali eningi kangaka next thing uhlezi ekhaya akasebenzi” she told me to stay above the noise. The worst thing is it was our own family saying all of this

@SainticalOne used to say #LifeWillHumbleYou and we would laugh at all we were going through. That’s exactly what happened, I got humbled. After coming home with no prospects of employment I looked for Jobs and at this point I looked for ANY job just to help my mom out.

I got this Sales Rep job with FMCG selling Ariel, Pampers, Always Ultra etc to these Somalian Tuck Shops ekasi. I did all of this with an entire Aviation Certificate sitting at home. I learned so much from that period in my life.

I hated the job but I did what I had to do.

The turning point was when I woke up one day and asked myself “What are you doing, X?” i didn’t have the answer but I knew I didn’t wanna let my mother carry my burdens hence I was doing it. I went back to pursuing my ATC career

I made calls and I got called back by my old school to come work for them for experience, they didn’t pay much but they gave me accommodation and food and that’s all I needed. I told my mom and she told me to go so I left.

2 weeks into the job I got called by a different company which I had apparently applied for their Helicopter Pilot bursary program. I never took it serious and a month later after going through the interviews I got awarded the bursary

That’s when I left my job and pursued my flying career.

Lessons here: Had everything gone simple and straight forward for me I wouldn’t be where I am today. The build up to all my break throughs started during my darkest times

Have I had followed everyone I wouldn’t have known about ATC, Have I had given up and chose to stay ekasi I would have probably mixed up with the wrong crowd and got killed, Had I have gotten a job after 43 Air School I wouldn’t have applied for the Helicopter Pilot bursary.

God’s timing! It doesn’t make sense when you are still going through the most but once you get to where you were meant to be you will understand why you went through what you went through first. Trust the process and trust in God

@smisomanatha always says, We walk by faith not sight. Ignore everything else. And don’t underestimate the power of having the right crowd around, I’ve got a very supportive circle I can’t even mention all of them by name but my friends are family to me

@leratomahoyi bought me my first suitcase when I first left home for school 🙏🏿
I remember everyone who helped me on the way up and they are all still here because we are not there yet but I appreciate everything thus far.

@leratomahoyi I’ve just recently completed my studies and yesterday on top of the Commercial Pilot Licence I just got Flight Instructor Rating added to my licence

So yes I am grateful for that debt, it changed my life and helped mould me into what I am today.

As for the dark times, they were catalysts to the great times