Brave matric learner achieves distinction despite family tragedy

A matric learner has shown determination and strength after achieving a Bachelor’s pass, including a distinction for Afrikaans, the same subject she wrote on the day her 23-year-old brother died in a motorbike accident.

While Robyn Geldenhuys, 18, a learner from Grassdale High School in Grassy Park, was preparing to leave home for her final paper for her National Senior Certificate, her mother, Sylvia Geldenhuys, received the tragic news that her brother, Kyle Van Schalkwyk, had tragically died in a motorbike accident in Southfield.

While Sylvia stood at the accident scene, a brave Robyn stepped into the examination room and did exactly what her brother wanted, to complete schooling and achieve a Bachelor’s pass and receive a distinction.

“I had tears while writing my exam, but I told myself he would have wanted me to be here, to finish school,” Robyn told the Cape Argus moments after receiving her results.

“He wanted me to pass with a Bachelor’s and to get a distinction in Afrikaans, and that is exactly the results I received. I remained focused.”

A week after her examinations were completed, another of her brother’s wishes and dreams for his baby sister was realised when members from his biking fraternity, "No Problems MCC", gave her a fairytale send-off, with close to fifty bikers showing up.

“He said he wanted there to be ten bikers at her matric farewell, and after his passing, it was so marvellous that they (the club) rallied together to give her a beautiful matric send-off," Sylvia explained.

"They called him Choppie, and they said we are doing this for Choppie’s sister, and there were close to fifty bikers present, and we were so grateful."

She said upon receiving her daughter’s results, she could only have imagined her son’s excitement and how she had persevered the morning of that examination paper: “I said to Robyn this morning, he would have been so proud of you; it would have been like he was writing the exam. That morning when the accident happened, Robyn had to write her last paper in Afrikaans, and I said to her, see the achievement you have for that particular subject.

"It was not easy, and the principal asked her that morning, are you ready to write? And she said yes.”

Sylvia said the loss of her son left them shattered and heartbroken, but that they had to persevere. “I said to someone the other day, some days I stand up and I smile, and the next day I will stand up and I will burst into tears,” she explained. “But I have to stand up and go on.”

She said her daughter’s desire was to pursue a teaching career, but that they had faith in either her receiving a bursary or for her to be able to pay for her own studies once she became employed: “I am so overwhelmed for the mere fact that she worked so hard; she is a child who, when she comes from school, will not eat first; she will do her homework first. I always tell her that hard work pays off in the end. She has always been a top achiever learner.”

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Cape Argus