Where you come from does not necessarily have to be where you end up, these are surely the words to describe University of the Western Cape (UWC) Law student Ntombizandile Mdonci’s journey.

Ntombizandile received an award at the Dean Merit Awards as the top Arts Foundation Faculty student and also top student in the Arts Faculty for the year 2013, the awards hosted by the Dean Prof. Duncan Brown took place at the UWC auditorium last week.

The 22 year old from Makhaza says her daily routine involves waking up very early in the morning to catch the earliest train which will ensure that she is safe and on time at the prestigious university.

The first year Law students says her journey has not been easy, “I had to work for two years before coming to university and put that money aside for registration. I take my education very seriously I don’t have that high school mentality of not caring,” she said.

“All of a sudden I was a serious and responsible grown up and all that has worked in my favour because now I have scooped two awards.”

Ntombizandile says going into university is not as difficult as people make it out to be because of the availability of the things like National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and bursaries.

“One needs to make sure of registration fees and most people in the townships don’t study because they do not have information about these things,” she says.

Zandile says she uses her time properly and when she started at the institution last year as a foundation student before she became an official first year, she was very excited because she spent two years working.

“I would really like to urge young people to get jobs in December and save the money every month or week just for registration because after registration things will go smoothly,” she giggled.

Ntombizandile added that she has really supportive parents who don’t let her do chores when she has work to do or study for an exam.

She says she is just an ordinary girl from Khayelitsha who wants to change her life and the lives of her loved ones through her education.

“UWC is really one of the best universities in Africa and the staff at the institution are helpful and available for students to get hold of them after hours, the staff goes an extra mile to ensure that you get and understand what you were taught in class,” she concluded