Gibson’s Road to Recovery Led Him to His Education Dream
For Gibson, his time at St. Joseph’s not only meant his health journey but also his first steps to the education he always dreamed of.
He would spend a lot of his time in the meadows, looking after goats, but became tired very quickly, experiencing a tight chest and other symptoms that worsened over time.
Gibson was just 9 years old when he was diagnosed with arrhythmia: a condition in which the heart doesn’t beat properly. He had little option but to leave his family and his village in the Eastern Cape to seek medical treatment in Cape Town.
“The health care in the Eastern Cape had deteriorated, and a lot of those good doctors had left. So, in her wisdom, my grandmother suggested that I come to Cape Town. I remember the journey on the back of a bakkie. When I arrived, my uncle had asked someone to take me to Red Cross Hospital, where I met the team of doctors here for the first time.”
After spending some time at another children’s home, Gibson was recommended to have his treatment continued at St. Joseph’s, where he could attend school as well. The fact that he would attend school excited Gibson. He said that education was always something that he had dreamed of but was unable to do back home.
“I always understood that my father wanted me to get an education because he didn’t get an education. He wasn’t home most of the time, as he was working in the mines out in Gauteng. But for me, there was always this thing of education because one of my mother’s uncles was a schoolmaster, so when he visited, he would always pressure us and emphasize the importance of school.”
Gibson recalls the day he came to St. Joseph’s: “I will never forget when Sister Simone greeted me with such love. I will never forget that face. She had heard where I had come from, but she had such a natural way with children and people. She took me by the hand and walked me through the ward.”
He spent 7 years at St. Joseph’s, finishing Grade 8 at the school and continuing high school at Rochester High in Salt River. The Apartheid laws at the time made it difficult for Gibson to get into a high school, but with the assistance and support of St. Joseph’s staff and social workers, he managed to matriculate with a bursary for tertiary education.
Gibson then enrolled in a diploma course in human resources at the then-Cape Technikon. He said he lamented having to learn Afrikaans in primary school at St. Joseph’s but was very thankful and happy that knowing the language assisted him in getting a spot at the university.
Having graduated and after working at several big companies, Gibson is now a senior manager at the Western Cape Government department of Basic Education. His position requires that he identify the needs of schools around the province.
“I grew up here with children with various conditions, which I didn’t quite understand then. But speaking to these educators gives me a whole new understanding and sort of completes the picture. Thank God I am in a position where I can try to influence something and be able to say this is what can be done.”
Gibson implores members of the public to reach out to St. Joseph’s and find out about all the great work that they do. “There is so much one can do to support a place like this. St. Joseph’s does a lot, but the support of everyone will enable them to do so much more.”
Gibson’s Road to Recovery Led Him to His Education Dream
