Impact: Meet Micah
Anger, Resentment and Frustration
Micah describes himself as a typical teenager from the Cape Flats who has endured multiple adversities throughout his life. His mother is a single parent and his dad has been absent since he was seven. Prone to repeating grades at school he confessed to having had no positive role models, ‘never focusing in class’ and delinquent behaviour such as abusing drugs and ‘bunking alot’ Looking back he says he felt ‘anger, resentment and frustration’ with where he found himself, repeating Grade 10 for a second time.
Meeting SOHK
At the beginning of Grade 11 he joined School of Hard Knocks and soon realised that it was more than just a rugby programme. He says ‘through the sport I learnt respect and responsibilities; especially after having to rate ourselves on the [Levels] chart after each session and when the career workshop took place I knew there was definitely something more behind the ‘Hard Knocks.’
He adds ‘Through SOHK, I understood that my past behaviour was leading to a dead end. I felt a need to build myself up to where I want to be one day. 2019 was not easy, but I was kept on track by SOHK staff who didn’t give up on me.’
SOHK encouraged Micah to set goals for himself for 2020, one of which is to become a prefect at school, and he has made this clear to teachers even though they have reservations based on his past reputation. This year [2020] he has been described as a ‘different child’ and (Harold Cressy teacher) Mr. De Storie says “he now stands a good chance of becoming a Prefect”.
Although Micah has gone through traumatic episodes as a teenager he feels that his ‘well-being has improved tremendously; I feel good, I’m confident, humble and ready for anything; the excitement is so real I can hardly contain it.’ He adds that he is thankful that ‘School of Hard Knocks has given me the opportunity to learn about myself.’
But that’s not all!
SOHKs own measure of behaviours used for student self assessment puts peer to peer learning and contribution to helping others at the top of it’s achievements. Therefore we were delighted to learn that over the 2019 Christmas holidays Micah joined a local sports club where he is now an assistant coach teaching learners from his community life skills and education through sport.
“It’s a wonderful experience, the vibe and everyone recognises me as a coach”. He loves the team mates’ acknowledgement, the unity, and says that he may even coach his own team this year. He can see that sport is really his passion. “Through my individual growth I am not hiding from those ‘naughty’ friends anymore, as I have done initially, I want to show them who I am in the hope that they may be inspired too”.
Micah already displays great leadership qualities, a strong sense of self, and SOHK wish him all the best in his future endeavours. We want to say well done on your resilience and allowing us to be part of your journey to be the greatest version of you!