mapula1

There is a vicious rumour going around that you can’t meet people on the internet. That is completely true and some of my best friends at the moment are people i have engaged with online and never [or only recently – hi Trevor Black!] met in real life… Sindile, Linde, Felicity and so many more of you can attest to that – while real life is better by far, until you get there, it is possible to have real and meaningful conversations, challenges, shared insights and more.

Which brings me to the place of introducing Mapula, who i have never met yet, and who s helping me to have the best birthday present ever [although i still need a bunch of you to help us get there!]

 crush her varsity fees so that she can actively seek employment and start chasing after some of her and her family’s dreams, but today i want to invite Mapula to share a little something about herself…

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I hope my story reaches someone, gives meaning to a hopeless end, and awakens somebody’s dead dreams.For those who have lived a day in their lives not knowing what the struggle looks or even feels like, I hope it encourages you to continue living.

Let me start off by quoting an unknown source”A true Christian’s joy is independent of circumstances”.

God has been my plan A all the way to Z, I know not of any other. GOD is Sovereign I say and that is because for the past 24 years he gave meaning to that word in my life, but before I get a bit carried away, allow me to introduce myself:

My name is Mapula Diale I was born into a family of 3 in a small mining town called Ba-Phalaborwa, it is located near the confluence of the Ga-Selati and Olifants halfway up along the Kroner National Park in the lowveld. Given that description I take it you can already picture my house (Chuckles).

I had a fairly eventful upbringing with mom getting a job away from home, daddy losing his job, me heading up a household. It was a bit overwhelming, but I got through it eventually. In 2009 I was in my matric year and still staying with my brother. At this point one is supposed to be excited about the thought of going to University and escaping the shackles of being stuck in a township, the reality hits home, tadda!, no finances, forget that now my brother who is just 13 at the time has to fend for himself. We could not afford to pay someone to stay and help him with chores, laundry and basic things, just like me and my sister he had to just learn along the way by himself.

Fast forward to results day I passed and had to stay home yet another year due to finances and probably a lack of knowledge about opportunities. When God finally made a way in 2011 for me to begin school just when I thought things can’t get any worse than they are a very disturbing tragedy hit my family as my mom attempted suicide.I was so broken it affected every part of my life, – academics, relationships with friends and family and spiritual life.

In the midst of all this rubble there has always been a Sovereign God, whom the Apostle Paul describes as being the “Image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation.For by him all things where created through him and for him”. In tests: it has been 14 years of unemployment for my dad and another 14 years for my mother who is diligently working as a domestic at a hospital in the Rural village Pharaoh, a mother who carries an entire family on an insubstantial salary , who still believes God is in control, who still hopes to one day erect a decent house. In the midst of a filthy, unfair, unequal, socially unjust system created by mere man (Emphasis) lies a loving father,the meekest man but yet strong, peace and justice are the foundation of his throne, and to that we are to hold steadfast without wavering.

I hope to break my rhythm, ignite my passion and accelerate my growth through helping other people. My life is more than the 4 walls of Industrial Engineering as the system could like it to be there is a greater plan and purpose to which we have been called and a part of it is dying to self.

I have recently launched an NGO, “letters to my father” which seeks to address issues surrounding the effects of absent fathers willingly and not willing in a girl child’s life. If interested in the subject you can download a podcast on radio2000.com where I explained better in my interview with Thami Ngubeni late December 2015, further information will follow for those who are interested in a live interview I did with Thenji Stimela on the Expresso morning show on SABC3.

My hope for my country is to live in an all inclusive society, where people can actually begin to perceive each other as human beings.The world is made out of so much love by God we ought to start giving it, there is a Pedi proverb that goes”Motho ke Motho ka batho”roughly translated it means you are only a person through other people that is my hope for a new South Africa. I’m signing out with this quote

“Had I the heavens embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and dark cloths
of night and light and the half
light.
I would spread the cloths under your feet.
But I, being poor have only my dreams,
I have Spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams”

W.B Yeats

Thank you Mapula for giving us a small opportunity to invest in your future. i look forward to meeting you face to face one day, but until then i am very excited about your journey ahead.

Thank you to everyone who has given and all of you who still will as it will just cost you R100 or $6 to be part of making a huge difference to someone you have just now met.

[For more details on the Generosity Fundraiser, click here]