Bornfrees Profile: Advice from Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga

Welcome to our awesome series of interviews with Bornfrees! We'll be highlighting the stories of Bornfrees from all around South Africa and are keen to hear from YOU if you were born into freedom - make contact through our email bornfrees18@gmail.com

Today we meet Advice from Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga:

Tell us who you are and where you're from, and staying currently

My name is Advice Mashego and I was born 3 October 1994. I am a 17 year old boy living in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga. I live with my paternal family, my grandmother and my cousins and my big brother and young sister. We are all staying in the same house at Bushbuckridge.

 

What are you doing currently (eg. attending school, working etc) and tell us more about that

Currently I am attending school at Bushbuckridge grade nine and when I get to matric I want to work smart and not hard, and work to the last atom of my strength. After matric I want to further my studies and I would like to enrol in the Faculty of Science.

Who is the most important person in your life and why?

My important person in my life is my grandmother, she is my personal hero and a special mother amongst them all she can sacrifice her happiness and she don;t care if she had quality education but she wants me to get it, she is my role model.

Do you have any role models and what do you admire in them?

I admire my grandmother as my role model because she has given me so much love and taken care of us ever since I was a child. At that time I did not understand why she was up and down trying to build a greater future from us but today it all makes sense. Today I am able to take care of myself because of my granny.

 

What do you think is the benefit of being a Bornfree

The benefit of being a Bornfree is to have freedom of everything and living with rights and responsibilities, enjoying being a youth and born free from all the harshness of the world. When you are a Bornfree you have freedom of speech and let your voice be heard.

 

Are there any negative aspects of being a Bornfree

The way that today's youth take advantage of having freedom in negative ways can have a negative impact on our society. They engage in drugs, alcohol and unprotected sexual behaviour.

What's your idea of a perfect day?

My idea of a perfect day is when all the bad things that are against the law or destroying the nation come to an end and for everyone to live in peace and harmony.

What dream do you have for yourself, or a goal you want to achieve?

My greatest goal I want to achieve in life is to pass my matric and go to higher education to enrol in the field of my dream which to date is science. My dream is to be a scientist and change the world. 

 

What message would you share with other Bornfrees?

I would like to take this opportunity of advising the youth out there to think carefully about their future. It's no longer easy to tell one adult from a teen because so many teens are parents and so many teens are criminals. Let us hold hands together and show the world that we can make our world a better place and to stay our parents' hard work to make a brighter future for us.

Special thanks to Children of the Dawn for connecting us to Advice: www.childrenofthedawn.org.za