Sarah de Klerk

    Testimonial

My name is Sarah de Klerk. I was born on a farm called Steneveld near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. I am one of 14 children. I am the fifth child. My mother was a housewife and my father worked on the farm.

I went to school at the age of six and schooled up to Grad II. I was nine years old when I left school. The reason why I left school is that I looked after my younger sisters and brothers, because my mother was not a healthy person. She was always there to help me with the children, though. My father gave me a lot of support. However, I felt that I was living a double life, because I was an adult and a child. I had to cook, clean the house and take care of my siblings and my parents.

When my brothers and sisters came from school, I took their books and tried to copy what they have written in their school books. I learnt a lot from Carol's books. I did many other things in my life before I met my husband and got married. Unfortunately, I felt that I had not achieved my goal to learn more, because there was not enough time for me to do so. I did not know what to do and I felt sad.

Then in 2002, through Simonsvlei’s Sima Kunye programme, I was introduced to the basic reading- and writing skills course. I became very excited and thought: "Sarah, your dreams are going to come true!" I decided to join the classes as well. I have been in the classes for two years now and I enjoy it very much. Here I am, writing my life story in English!

I feel more confident and find it easy to speak to people and I enjoy and love my work very much. I am now a receptionist at Simonsvlei.