Former South Peninsula School pupil and entrepreneur Shirley Zinn returned to the school on Monday to award a group of learners bursaries to the value of R75 000. Picture: Ian Landsberg/African News Agency
Cape Town - To ease the financial burden of parents and open doors for pupils at their alma maters, business leaders Shirley Zinn and Sharmla Chetty partnered to create the Cibisnai Youth Development Trust which on Monday awarded bursaries to the value of R75 000 to 15 hard-working pupils at South Peninsula High School (SPHS), which Zinn previously attended.
Zinn was recognised as a coach, mentor and entrepreneur who had served on various boards of major companies, trusts, charities and universities – a few of her titles include head of human resources of Standard Bank South Africa, chairperson of the V&A Waterfront board of directors, author and entrepreneur.
Zinn said: “We always had a vision, because of the opportunities we had, to give back and contribute to the lives of young people – especially at our own schools where pupils come from impoverished backgrounds and have enormous potential but did not have the financial means to be able to achieve thus.”
They partnered with the schools to make the selection of those students and would now be supporting them for their first year of studies at various institutions including UCT, UWC, CPUT and Stellenbosch University.
Zinn and Chetty would also be awarding bursaries to deserving pupils at Merebank Secondary School on Wednesday in Durban where Chetty previously attended.
SPHS principal Zeid Baker said: “What I found fascinating about Cibisani’s offer was that we were not told to only identify the top achievers – we were asked to identify three top achievers above 80%, three top achievers above 70%, three top achievers above 60%, and a top achiever above 50%.”
Baker thanked Cibisani for making it possible that matrics from homes in Steenberg, Lotus River, Philippi and other communities in the Cape Flats were afforded this opportunity to live their dreams and pursue tertiary education.
The bursary ceremony proved to be extremely emotional for trustees of Cibisani Trust, the recipients, parents and the school as these pupils were finally able to realise their dreams and overcome various difficult circumstances they faced.
A mother of one of the beneficiaries tearfully relayed how grateful the family were for the bursary and how proud she was of her child for working hard to achieve it.
After getting evicted from their home, the family continued to struggle massively throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, with no stable income, while the father also suffered from serious illness.
The mother said this opportunity from Cibisani was truly life changing and she could not be more proud of her son.
Basic Education District Representative Isobel Senosi commended the school and encouraged the bursary recipients to continue to work hard and make use of the opportunity granted by Cibisani.