Last week’s column acknowledged local Rotary Clubs and individuals who have been paying school fees and providing a monthly food allotment for AIDS orphans at Sihlengeni High School in Zimbabwe.

Today I want to acknowledge one very special Sihlengeni student (not an AIDS orphan) and the Hidden Hero she says helped her along the way. Junior Mthembu is not only a leader in her school, she is also a leader in her school district and has the potential I believe to be a leader in her country. This girl deserved the chance to go to university and I hope we can help her do that when the time comes.

Here’s Junior’s story:

“He is a man amongst other men and a true father. My father is a very kind and understanding man who has really changed my life. He has fought battles in my life, which I will never forget.

“As for now in the family he is both my mother and father, since my mother passed away. If a man’s wife dies usually other men think of marrying a second wife who will be a stepmother if the man has children. My father did not even think of that as early as other men arrange it. He still lives with me and my two young brothers at home.

“Father has always been an inspirational man in the family. He works very hard for me to go to school and feeds me so that I can grow well like any other child does. He is keeping chickens (broilers) at home as his job. This work enables me to eat, get clothes, go to school, and be myself today. He is not employed but works very hard on this small task that he thought of and the income from that is working a lot for me.

“Without him I do not think I would be as far as this because by the time I lost my mother I thought it was the end of the world, but with his encouragement, comfort, and with him being a pillar of strength I survived.

“At first I thought committing suicide was a good plan as I could not live without my mother in this world. He struggled and tried by all means to comfort and advise me in any way and he also told me that he will be there for me always. He will be the mother and father whom I need as a child.

“For sure he has stood by me and he is still standing by my side, standing as a father and mother. He does household chores at home when I am at school and makes sure that I get something to eat after school. When a girl child grows up in life, she needs advice from aunts, grandmothers, sisters, and even a mother, but my father is my advisor.

“He does not care what people say about him not bringing a stepmother for me at home. He knows how to take care of me and advises me the right way. What I am today is because of him.

I am being well educated and I am a Child Member of Parliament. That is due to him. He always encourages me to work hard. If I have done something good every time, he becomes happy but always says ‘work harder and you will always succeed.’

“I love my father so much and I wish him many, many more years in this world so that if I grow up well, I will show him how much I appreciate what he has done for me.

“I thank God for giving me such a wonderful, caring, and loving father like him.”

Junior Mthembu would be a leader no matter where she lived in the world and, after reading her story, it’s not hard to see where her leadership strengths, characteristics and values come from.