By Kamvelihle Netjies
The Mary Waters Secondary School class of 1999 came together to make their 20th reunion one to remember by donating a printer and scanner to motivate the 2019 matric class.
After 20 years out of high school, the class of 1999 bought a printer and scanner to give back to Mary Waters as the school had been struggling to print. They also wanted to encourage and challenge other matriculates to give back whatever they can.
Among them, Dawid Bloom, who was a speaker at the reunion, said to the learners, “It’s an honour to stand here today in front of you, and just to think that 20 years back I was standing in the same spot that you’re in.”
“I feel grateful to stand here, to motivate and talk to you spiritually.”
He emphasised saying that his purpose was to talk about the negativity in our communities, as they were once students too.
“Nowadays, the youth’s attitude towards life, community, teachers and their parents, has shown negativity which creates a negative perspective in my mind as they don’t respect life in general,” he said.
He highlighted that drug abuse and teenage pregnancy have increased, as well as gangsterism in bigger cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.
“Where do we put the line? Who do we blame?”, said Bloom. “The Government, children, parents, communities or the media?”
“If you don’t have God in your lives, you have nothing.”
“I believe that you’re not here by coincidence, you’re not mistaken. I see potential in each of you. I believe that we’re here together for a reason. You should take from us and find your purpose for your life. I can’t find purpose for any of you, but we should dig into ourselves to find our purposes,” he said.
Alumnae Lucrecia Basterman highlighted that their ultimate purpose is to challenge the class of 2019.
“Be aware of what to say on social media because you may never know where it could lead to.” she said.
Alumnae Danwyn Jewel highlighted the importance of overcoming the circumstances learners have experienced at home.
“My mom raised me alone, there were no social grants like SASSA (South African Social Security Agency) she [be]would in dumping sites the whole week to collect cans, copper and aluminium and go to sell them in Port Elizabeth. She did all that because she had a dream, which was giving me education,” he said
“Appreciate the sacrifices that your parents are making for you. Don’t get deceived by what your friends can afford, your time is coming.”
“Start creating visions for yourselves, be prepared to take every opportunity that will come in your ways but last but not least, he said. As David said ‘Take God as your centre point in life, and there will be nothing standing in your way,” he said.
“As learners and Matriculates we showed enough respect to our teachers but today things have changed there is a lot of disrespect towards teachers, he said, start to bring that back, appreciate the efforts that your teachers invest unto you. Use that to make productive decisions in life.”
Mary Waters Principal Faith Coetzee delivered words of appreciation to the class of 1999, “It’s a real privilege to have you [here]once again and you still look exactly the same”, she said.
“We appreciate this generous gift, your love and support to our school makes us very strong, thank you.”
