Award-winning actress, singer, and musical theatre graduate Nelisiwe Sibiya has set the record straight saying all the achievements were not handed to her on a silver platter.
Sibiya, who plays Dr Mbali Mthethwa on etv’s medical drama Durban Gen, took a stroll down memory lame via Instagram to show off her humble beginnings and to applaud the resilience of her younger self.
“Shout out to my younger self after matric, the driven young me who had nothing but just a dream, a younger me who would take three or four taxis every day to go work as a promoter on the streets and malls. Saving money to take myself to varsity because my mother was just a street vendor who couldn’t afford even to buy us clothes,” wrote Sibiya on her Instagram account.
The Mama kaBafana hitmaker, who has never been shy to express her love for culture and tradition, said she knows poverty and what it feels like to desperately need something.
“I look at myself now and I cry. I cry because this is everything I always cried and prayed for with my family. And more is yet to come.”
Sibiya encouraged other people who are going through a difficult time not to wallow in their suffering.
“As the year starts, I know the stress from young people who want to go to varsities. Some don’t have the money to even register, some lost their jobs, some lost their marriages, some lost their parents and don’t know where to start,” she wrote.
“I am here to say do it! Just do anything that will make you grow. Stop thinking, no one cares about you. What you choose to do now will determine your future.”
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