A STORY OF HOPE T
uhafeni George Dasilva Hishitelwa’s story is remarkable. Born into poverty, Tuhafeni had to provide for himself for most of his childhood and school life. For a long time his life was a struggle, and for a while he was homeless and living in a petrol station. Today he is a successful businessman, motivational speaker, author and owner of Dasilva Investments. This is his story – a story of hope. MYD: Tuhafeni, can you take us back to the early days, when you left the village? TH: I was born in a small village close to the border in Oshikango. My mother left me in the custody of my auntie and my grandmother when I was, I think, four months old. I started school at Antonia Primary School. It was hard because we were fourteen, fifteen grandchildren in one house with my grandmother. It was fourteen or fifteen kilometres from the village to the nearest high school. I left the village with five dollars in my pocket, given to me by my grandmother, and some traditional spinach that I carried on my shoulder. I was agitated. I was, you know, a bit confused. I went to the nearby school at Ukunu. There were only shacks and about eighteen or twenty of us from different villages gathered there. We constructed shacks where we then lived. We called it a boys’ hostel. For Grade 11, I went to Tsumeb, to Etosha Secondary School. It was the same struggle – I remember selling bottles just to have some means. Tsumeb is a big town – people pay rent and for someone from the village, it’s not easy to settle in there. But I always wanted to make an impact. I was passionate about school. I loved going to school and that was the main thing that drove me throughout my struggles.
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