The Story of Teacher Phola

It is easy, when pondering the power of possibility, to get caught up in clichés such as, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it.’ But the thing about clichés that is easy to forget is that most of them has an origin in some measure of truth. Nothing signifies this stronger than the life story of Nkabini Phola.

Phola grew up in amaZizi, a village in the deep rural foothills of the Drakensberg mountains. Raised primarily by his gogo (grandmother), daily life was a struggle. If Phola wanted to avoid walking along the dangerous main road, his little legs had to carry him across a ravine and river just to get to primary school, which was five kilometres away. However, neither the distance nor the obstacles would stop Phola. He wanted to learn, and, to borrow from another cliché, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way.’ As the years went by, he maintained his determination to get to school each day, and he racked up his collection of certificates for punctuality and neatness.

He made this daily odyssey because he had a dream, a dream of improving his life and the lives of others through education. Like the road through amaZizi, Phola’s dream soon encountered many bumps and potholes. His mother, who worked in housekeeping at a local hotel, broke her leg and was unable to continue working. The burden fell on his father to provide for his family, which included Phola’s four siblings. This burden he carried proudly, albeit briefly, for Phola’s father soon breathed his last. Phola was in grade 9, a boy in age, but thrust suddenly into the providing role of a man. His dream of change through education, like the mountains towering above his home village, seemed increasingly out of reach.

After Phola’s father died, the family’s challenges deepened, and they soon lacked money for school, transportation, and some days even food. By fourteen, Phola was moulding and selling clay animals on the side of the road just to provide for his family. On good weekends, he earned enough money to pay for transport to high school, now fifteen kilometres from home. On bad weekends, the bounty was enough to buy just a tin of fish or some eggs.

Despite these incredible hardships, Phola persevered. He had to repeat a year of school, but, always viewing the glass half full, today he is grateful that this setback taught him a lesson in patience. In 2016, he completed matric, and the following year his soccer coach told him of a job opportunity as a waiter at The Cavern Berg Resort. Phola went to his first official job interview anxious and afraid, having to answer questions on the spot from owners Megan Bedingham and Lesley Carte. He knew nothing about the hospitality industry, and the only thing of value he had to offer was his ability to wash dishes. As Phola describes it today, ‘By God’s grace I made it to the dining room where I was trained by Justice Hlubi and Solomon as a waiter.’ By the following year, Phola was a trained waiter and bartender, where he says his school day fixation with neatness and being on time served him in good stead.

Phola’s work gave him something he lacked throughout his childhood: breathing room. But Phola didn’t allow stability to mutate into complacency. In 2018, he got accepted into UNISA. Faced with a difficult choice of sacrificing his work for his studies, fate dealt Phola a good hand and allowed him to do both. Lesley told him to focus on his studies and come back to work during his university holidays. This he did, elegantly juggling between student and employee. For good measure, he somehow managed to find spare time to volunteer at a primary school in amaZizi during this period.

It didn’t take long before Megan, seeing Phola’s passion for education and his drive to achieve, put two and two together. Aware that there was an internship opportunity at Royal Drakensberg Primary School (RDPS), established by her and situated just down the road from The Cavern, she pleaded with Phola to apply for the position. Phola was hesitant. Most private schools wanted experience he did not yet have, but he nevertheless agreed to chat with Thoba, RDPS’s principal. Needless to say, Thoba was as impressed as Megan, and Nkabini Phola, who grew up in poverty, crossing rivers and selling clay animals just to get to school, became Teacher Phola.

Now in his second year as an RDPS teacher, Phola is fulfilling his childhood dream of shaping the lives of others through the power of education. In his own words, ‘The space that I am in now goes far beyond being a teacher, but includes being eager to grow and change the society we live in through ensuring that learners thrive socially, academically, and emotionally.’ Leading by example, he sponsors his nephews so that they do not have to pay for transport and school uniform. Teacher Phola is paying it forward.

It’s not only his students who have so much to learn from Teacher Phola. Each of us, young and old, face challenges in life. At times, it feels like those challenges are overwhelming, and it is tempting to throw up our hands in defeat. But Phola’s story shows we must never give in to that temptation. With a vision, a plan to accomplish that vision, and with enough determination to see that plan through, we really can reach for the stars. Teacher Phola’s story is proof: if you can dream it, you can do it.

Words: Liam King