A worker by night-A student by day… The 19th of November saw the celebration of a remarkable woman, a wife, a mother, a friend, more and above a church leader. Born to a single mother, Baleseng Ruth Matswakeletse celebrated her achievements, after successful completing her Boc Sc degree at Free State University. Quoting from one of Charles Dickens’ book, a Tale of two cities, Zonela Mkhumbeni, the programme director of the day, described Matswakeletse’s achievements saying “it was the best of time-it was the worst of time…” in a nut shell. Speaker after speaker, they all described what tuff times Matswakeletse went through to get her degree. Standing in front of the masses that came to celebrate, Menky, Matswakeletse’s daughter said “it was unusual for us at first; we were all used to having her at home and to help us with school stuff”. Menky said they had to learn to be independent and had to do things all on their own. What she has taken out of her mother’s ordeal is that “I had learnt a lot from mama” in over whelming tears of joy. Free State provincial sport, arts and culture director, Vincent Khetha was the main speaker at the celebration, who said he was honoured to be afforded an opportunity to convey a message of support to Matswakeletse’s achievement. “We know very well Mrs Matswakeletse’s academic struggles and the route she travelled. We have heard her talking to us about Criminology and Sociology exams and analyses of different theories. We have heard her turning down our invitation at our house saying she is preparing to a test” this was in Khetha’s opening remarks. He said these days things are changing, change itself is changing and the question today is what an individual is doing with the changing environment. He went on and said “Just like Mrs Matswakeletse, you have limitless abilities to achieve whatever you want in life”. Khetha referred Matswakeletse as a good dreamer just like Joseph in Genesis 37, “today we are celebrating the manifestation of a good dream” as he added on. He encouraged everyone to keep on dreaming, irrespective of what people say. In a strong nice and slow manly voice, Khetha said “Your background is less important to determine your destiny; your past should not remind you that you can’t be anything in life”. As the people cupped hands, the Director mentioned “Most of you may be aware of the fact that Mrs Matswakeletse comes from a background which is not that glossy but she managed to breakthrough irrespective of unfavourable circumstances”. When asked what role he had played as a husband, Pastor George Matswakeletse proudly said “I inspired her”. However, Pastor Matswakeletse said they had being orphans for more than five years, “her presence was not felt, as she was at work at night or on campus during the day, even if she was at home she had to study”. On the 14th of September when she graduated, the Pastor said he felt relived and “finally we got our person back”. The lady celebrated on the day, she said it was never easy to get her degree. She had to work night shifts and during the day she had to attend classes. “I had to fight to get where I am now, at first I wanted to study nursing but all did not go my way and I fought my way through” she said as a tear drop roll down. Come 2012 Matswakeletse plans to register for her honours degree.