Helping a little girl in a scary new world
● When 33-year-old Nokuthula Skhosana is troubled by self-doubt, she pulls out her grade 1 report cards from her favourite primary school teacher, and feels better.
Skhosana shared her story on the #ImStaying Facebook group, about the impact on her life by her grade 1 teacher, Lesley Taub, “a petite and feisty Jewish woman with red hair” who helped her navigate school life as one of the only black children in a sea of white kids in a model C school in Gauteng in 1993.
She wrote: “I didn’t have much confidence because I didn’t speak much English. But let me tell you that due to that wonderful woman’s love, dedication and patience, I was the most well-spoken and most fluent reader by the end of that year.”
Skhosana, who lives in Pietermaritzburg, told the Sunday Times: “I thought it was the perfect environment to post this … I didn’t dream that somebody would connect me with her.”
Among the hundreds of people who commented on Skhosana’s post was a relative of her former teacher. “Her sister tagged the teacher’s daughter, who then inboxed me her mom’s number.”
Skhosana said the hour-long conversation with her teacher after nearly 27 years brought tears to her eyes.
“She remembers every single thing about me, I was so overwhelmed.
“For the longest time, I admit, I got caught up in the web of black versus white and our history.
“The responses I got from the story reaffirmed for me even more that there are more good people than bad in the country,” said Skhosana.
Taub declined to comment.