She returned home with a trophy and medals to show off to her classmates. The 12-year-old learner from Nzalama Primary School in Giyani was named first runner-up in the grades 5 to 7 category. This comes after she qualified in 2022 for the competition. Tshembekile said the most challenging aspect of the competition was when they were shown definitions on a screen and had to name what was being defined.

“Most of us struggled because we were not expecting it, and on top of that, the definitions took about eight seconds before it disappeared,” remarked Tshembekile, adding that she could only name three of the five definitions. Reaching Dubai was a difficult path. After failing to get donations to finance the trip, her mother, Ntsako Mabunda, hustled to get the money together for the trip.

After barely scraping together enough money to purchase air tickets for three travellers, another setback at the airport nearly forced them to take the bus home sooner than expected. Ntsako said they paid for the tickets and applied for visas. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the visa applications failed to be approved on time, resulting in them missing their flight.

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They were told that they would have to pay a penalty of $150 USD per person (totalling R10 400) if they wanted to keep their booking active. “This was a dead end for us because we didn’t have that kind of money,” Ntsako recounted. “I was sure we would be on the City to City bus going back home in the next hour or two before a miracle happened,” she said.

Ntsako had earlier sent a proposal to the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Pretoria asking it to support her literacy programme by buying her new book in bulk and distributing it to schools. The embassy had pledged to donate R10 000 towards the programme. However, the funds had not yet been deposited at the time of the incident.

“After crying at the airport with my kids, I called Thelma Hlungwane from the embassy to tell her about my predicament,” explained Ntsako, adding that the embassy was quick to respond. She said they asked her to go to the embassy to fetch the money in person. “After I told them I couldn’t because of time constraints, they immediately deposited R10 000 into my account without question.

“I was overjoyed that we weren’t going back home without reaching our destination,” she added. Ntsako thanked the embassy for making her child’s journey to Dubai possible.