A day in the life of Richard Sibeko

It’s not about the income – it’s’ about the outcome!

Dear reader,

Congratulations! I am glad that you’ve made it this far.

Others started the journey and missed a turn somewhere and have ended up sitting in a fancy office doing some mind numbing-number-crunching job. They’re most probably envious of all the time we get off during the year. Well, good luck to them!

I am typing this at home (avoiding my marking) after a long day at work; this is most probably my tenth attempt at writing this. Yes, I know what you’re thinking; this should be very easy for me because I am an English teacher. You’re most probably expecting a lucid piece of writing with “perfect” grammar and stuff… well I can assure you that this will not be the case…

I started my journey as a young teacher at St Stithians Girls’ College as a Teacher Intern in 2010 at the age of 19. Attempting to juggle work and being a full-time student at Wits was challenge at times, however, I thoroughly enjoyed this! This was a familiar environment in which I was very comfortable to be in ( I am past St Stithians pupil ’08) . I managed to lean a lot while I was there (classroom management and dealing with 25 hormonal teenage girls at the same time) and this has definitely helped me and prepared me for my big move to “The Burg”. I also realised that being a teacher also meant being a “father figure”, disciplinarian, lawyer, psychologist and in some cases, a shoulder to cry on.

Living and working in Rustenburg is very different from the lifestyle I have in Johannesburg. If you had told me that I would be working here a while back, I would have laughed in your face! I mean who moves to Rustenburg…

This realisation came with one of many lessons I have learnt thus far; the first being acceptance. I’ve had to accept the fact that I no longer live and work in Johannesburg and that Rustenburg has become my new “home” for the next few years. This realisation has yet to sink in; however, it’s a work in progress.  I’ve also had to accept and understand the new rules and ways of doing things here and to accept the fact that the two (Johannesburg and Rustenburg) are very different. I’ve also had to accept the fact that I could not change the world and have the kids calling me “Oh Captain, my Captain” after the first lesson.

Another challenged thrown into my direction was trying to find a balance between being “Mr Sibeko” and “Richard”. As a young teacher, the kids in your class can smell your “fear” from a mile away and they can often take advantage of your being young. Numerous attempts of threatening their lives do seem to help, however, I strongly advise you to stay away from the Doom; they’re immune to this!

This past year has been both rewarding and challenging. I developed as a person and as a young professional and I am looking forward to the challenges coming my way in the New Year.  

Enjoy your journey!

PS: I strongly advise you make friends with the finance, IT , kitchen, admin  AND security departments in your first week! You will thank me later…