The Importance of Persistence

Book:

  • The Boy Who Never Gave Up
  • Author: Emmanuel Taban
  • Publisher: Kwela Books
  • ISBN: 978-1776191413

Book:

  • Witnessing
  • Author: Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase
  • Publisher: Kwela Books
  • ISBN: 978-0-7957-1047-6

The Boy Who Never Gave UpBesides being motivational, the two books have an important message for us as educators: academic success depends as much on application and attitude as it does on receiving good (or any!) teaching. The Boy Who Never Gave Up is the triumphant story of Dr Emmanuel Taban, now an eminent pulmonologist, who saved the lives of patients suffering from COVID-19 through his innovative treatment involving the removal of mucus from the lungs, albeit against World Health Organisation recommendations.

How did a underprivileged boy from South Sudan caught up in their vicious war of independence attain such success as a specialist physician? The book details his stubborn refusal to abandon his vision, despite potentially life-threatening setbacks.

After five years of interrupted schooling, the 16-year-old boy had passed the equivalent of Grade 9, but was forced to flee from soldiers who abducted him. As he made his way through East Africa on foot or by bus to South Africa, he was betrayed by some of those he trusted and helped by other generous people, such as the Comboni Catholic Missionaries in Johannesburg.

Emmanuel Taban’s achievements in his South African schooling, followed by medical studies at MEDUNSA (now Sefako Makgatho Health Science University) were nothing short of miraculous – having to pass Matric written in English and even study Afrikaans! The obstacles placed in his way were overcome through dogged determination and refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer where his education was concerned.

Witnessing. The importance of persistence.In a similar manner, in his memoir Witnessing, Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase details how he fled from the Rwandan genocide having witnessed unspeakable violence whose effects remain with him today. Despite his disrupted education, he won a scholarship to university in Rwanda.

However, his family needed financial support, and the only way to achieve this was to leave the country. After a series of setbacks and betrayals, he surreptitiously crossed the border into South Africa and took up residence as a car guard in Durban to earn money to survive.

Due to his persistence, he was enrolled at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and even secured a place in residence, rising to become a Mandela Rhodes Scholar on completing his degree.

Another admirable trait of both these young men was the extent to which they supported other impoverished compatriots in South Africa, as well as their families back home. Returning to the theme of what made them victorious despite adverse conditions, it was their indefatigable commitment to education. Nothing was handed to them on a plate, yet they rose to the top of their professions. Inspirational stories indeed!