Cape Town – “It all still seems so unbelievable.” These were the words of Delft mother Tania Februarie, 35, who had returned to school to complete her matric - 17 years later - in honour of her late son, Jaden Februarie, who died a year ago.
Having achieved a bachelor’s pass, Februarie said she was emotional when thinking of what the achievement meant to her and how she longed to share the moment with Jaden, who would have also received his results now.
“It has been a nerve-racking experience and I have a lump in my throat just taking it all in now. I feel so emotional, I feel proud. I am feeling everything at once, it is very overwhelming.”
Februarie, who has worked full-time since she fell pregnant during her first matric year, accessed her results online when she could not get the day off and said this moment would have been celebrated with Jaden.
“I am just glad that I could make him proud of me. I know that he is proud of this as well and we would have celebrated together. It’s as if I could hear his voice shouting as we celebrate.
’’Just being able to achieve this with a curriculum that I was not familiar with at all, makes the feeling of accomplishment even more intense.”
She said she had overcome a number of challenges during the year, including coming to terms with her grief of losing Jaden when he was 17-years-old after contracting a respiratory infection.
“He was indeed my inspiration. I prayed a lot during this time even up until the evening before we received the results. It is just an awesome feeling.
’’It was quite difficult having to familiarise myself with the new subjects but in the back of my mind I knew I wasn’t doing this alone. He was with me through it all,” said Februarie.
Cape Times