Achieving despite all odds

The journey through school can be quite daunting and often our children are faced with many challenges, which teachers see in the classroom on a daily basis.

These challenges are apparent in all South African schools and it is important that our children have a role model to look up to, someone who they can identify with in order to see that these challenges can be overcome, despite how hard the situation may seem.

Someone who has experienced this first-hand is Duncan Jack, a Durban based academic and humanitarian who came to visit the school on Friday, June 12.

Duncan first came to do an inspirational talk for the EarlyAct Club of Umhlali Preparatory School at the end of the first term in March.

“The talk left the children feeling inspired and motivated, with one child even saying that Duncan was her new role model so we decided to invite Duncan to share his story with our whole school,” said principal Astra Russell.

Jack has achieved so much in his life, South African judo champion, an Umhlanga life guard, where he has received the Centrum Guardian Award for saving lives as well as his excellent academic achievements in the field of chiropractics.

Duncan has achieved all this in spite of having Tourette’s syndrome, and although faced with many hardships along his journey to success, Jack made a conscience decision to embrace these obstacles with hard work and perseverance.

Something that really stood out in Jack’s inspirational talk was that he feels he was given Tourette’s syndrome not as a disability but rather as an opportunity to work even harder for the things that he wants in his life.

“Duncan is truly an inspiration to our South African learners and his words have touched the hearts of all at Umhlali Preparatory School. We hope that his story will inspire our children to strive to do their best and to work through the challenges that they face with a positive attitude and a smile of their face,” said Russell.