5 ft 4’’ Hiroshima!

Speed walking down to the Barrat Lecture Theatres, I struggle to keep up with her. She is speaking and part sprinting at the same time, how on earth is a total mystery to about 60% of the female population! “I hate being late, it really upsets me. Don’t judge.” Meet Kuhlesibonge Mkhabela, 19 and on the fast track to success – of any and all kinds!

Not one for blending she immediately announces that she respects journalists because of their patience to chase a story, “I would rather be shopping or even better – dancing or jogging!”, At first glance Kuhle seems intimidating; this is not an inaccurate description. Despite her petite height, she is a bomb shell of self confidence, “...if I were a billboard I’d read: Hello world, move over- the pro is in town!” she pronounces. From a large family of 5, she says that she learnt to ignore her height and move onto “...bigger...” things that mattered and could be influenced, “I did all the things that people thought would be difficult ‘coz I’m short, but I just flipped their ignorance a bird... ” said Kuhle.

Standing outside the lecture theatre after the lecture, she quickly checks her watch and lets me know we have some time before her next. Pulling out a cigarette, she strikes a match and takes a long drag into the now amber-tinged “cancer stick” as she calls it. A friend of hers sees her and waves at her, “I’m famous today, going to be online...” she giggles to the friend and takes another drag. On beginning first year, Kuhle joined the debating, poetry and ‘electro’ societies. She plays hockey, netball and is an avid supporter of the gym, “...I refuse to be a victim of ‘first year spread’, summer is just around the corner girl!” she says with sincere concern in her eyes.

As a first year female student, she says she was mostly stressed out by the inconsistencies she found in the treatment of women on campus, “In O-week we were told to make good guy friends who we could trust to walk us home, later in the year we hear a girl was raped in a guy’s res by her “friend”! How can such happen?” she says, her voice raw with emotion, she quickly shields herself up again, looks down and sighs deeply, “I found solace in keeping a lot of all kinds of friends, guy and girls, older and younger than I.”

By making friends and never compromising on her values, Kuhle overcame and indeed conquered the dreaded first year with a hop, skip and a sprint to the next lecture...