Mpumi Nobiva and her proud grandmother, Vivian, are very close but she admits they argue about doing chores when she’s home.
A few years ago she’d be forgiven for not feeling optimistic about the future.
She was just nine when she lost her mom to Aids, she never knew her father and her grandmother, a domestic worker, battled to make ends meet. But just look at Nompumelelo Nobiva now . . .
Not only is the bright-eyed 19-year-old first in her family to pass matric, she’s also off to America later this year having won a scholarship to study at a university there.
And it’s all thanks to her hard work and dedication, and the people who saw her potential and enrolled her at a world-renowned school.
That school is the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls and Nompumelelo – or Mpumi as everyone calls her – was one of the first girls chosen to join the ranks when the school opened in 2007.
YOU’s Jenny Mathebula chatted to the star pupil and her proud grandmother. Read more in YOU 19 January 2012