They often say life begins at 40.
A 40-year-old former street vendor and mother of three is among the graduates who received their degrees during this year’s spring graduation season at the University of Fort Hare.
Nomandithini Metu is the first to graduate in her family.
She pursued a Bachelor of Nursing and works as an intern nurse in the Cloete Joubert Hospital in Barkly East.
Raised by uneducated parents, Metu said she wanted to change the narrative.
“I am born and bred in Mdantsane, and raised by parents who never went to school. But on my mother’s side they are well educated, there are teachers and nurses.”
Metu said she made a promise to herself that she would never die poor, and her children would never suffer.
“I am coming from a poor home, and I made a promise to myself that I would never die poor. My first goal was to reach grade 12 and I made it possible.”
After matriculating in 2001, she took a four-year gap. In 2005, she pursued a diploma in marketing management at Lovedale College.
After completing her diploma in 2008, she was hired as a cashier at Shoprite. By that time, she was already married. In 2010, Metu lost her job and divorced.
She started working as a street vendor with her aunt.
“We sold fast food like a full meal, fat cakes and beverages.”
Things didn’t go well though, and in 2014 and she decided to go back to school. First she pursued a diploma in electrical engineering at Buffalo City College.
But she dropped out after falling pregnant and went back to selling meat as a street vendor for a while.
In 2015, she applied at the University of Fort Hare to study a Bachelor of Nursing degree.
“I was rejected for 2016. I decided to go to the university to find the reason behind my rejection because I was told I qualified, and I was admitted.”
In 2017, Metu did her first year. She said it had been a difficult journey.
“It took me five years to obtain the degree. To make an income, I would sell clothes for people and get a commission of 20% for the clothes I sold. Every day at school, I carried this big bag selling clothes to students,” she said.
During her time as a student, she developed hypertension. Despite the odds, Metu remembered the promise she made, of wanting to change her situation at home.