Growing up as the only girl to my parents, my mom always taught me to be strong, to respect and to stand up for myself. However, going to school, at grade 2, I was told by a female teacher that I was stupid. At grade 5, my female teacher hated me so very much, and she made the whole class aware of the hatred she had for me.

From a very early age, I had to be strong for myself. I started to work on being stubborn and aggressive. It wasn't what my mother taught me, but it was my defensive mechanism. I couldn't give in to these ladies and in return disappoint my mother as well as myself.

When I went to the Nursing College, I encountered the worst challenges of my life, where women tutors made my life more miserable than ever. I couldn't understand that women could be a woman’s worst enemy. I started resenting women, I started thinking all women were after my blood.

One day I sat down and reflected on my life. I realized that, that is not the daughter my mother brought up.

I'm happy to say that I'm now a mature woman, a woman my mother is proud of. I have grown up to be a loving person, a person who accepts everyone as they are, women or men. If someone displays hatred, I give love back and pray for them.

As one matures, one learns that no one can bring you down except you can allow people to bring you down. I'm not letting anyone bring me down, not through aggression or by being stubborn, but by being assertive and by standing up for myself. If I had the best prize in the world, I would give it to my mother for bringing up such a special human being, that I am today.

~ Nombuso Mthembu