The Story of How Jaco Became an Electrician

Fig. 1    Assuring the "Big Boss" that everything is fine

Let me introduce you to Jaco, an isiNdebele speaking man that comes from the semi-rural Nkangala District of Thembisile in Mpumalanga. Although English is Jaco’s second language, he prefers to communicate in English. Thembisile, a commonly used Zulu name, means promise which is what Jaco’s future holds for him and his family.

Jaco was born on  23 November 1972 and is from a family of 7. He grew up in the small town of Nkangala, close to Middelburg, where he attended Thembisile Secondary Preparatory School and later went on to graduate from Isabuthle High School with a matric certificate achieved in 1993 at the age of 21. Both Jaco’s mother and father played a vital role in motivating Jaco to complete his matric and managed to pay for his education with the little money they had. Jaco is the only member of his family to have completed High School.

As a young man, Jaco was always motivated and eager to work. From an early age, he showed an interest in working with his hands and spent many years doing small, odd jobs after he left school until he discovered his passion in 2005.

Fig. 2

Jaco is a softly spoken man who is humble yet proud of his successes. Jaco discovered his talent was being an electrician and is proud to say he has been working as one for the past nine years, now in his tenth year this year. When speaking to Jaco you can see the passion in his eyes. He still enjoys working with his hands and finding solutions to problems, which is what lead him to where and what he is today.

Never forgetting his roots and where he has come from, Jaco is always busy and determined to make a success of his life and the career he has chosen. Although Jaco started as a semi-skilled worker, “someone who has sufficient knowledge of a trade to do respective work and simple jobs with the help of simple tools”, he has been able to develop and grow in his field due to the people he has worked with and the jobs he has completed.

Jaco’s eyes light up when he talks about the two different projects he worked on and successfully completed in Akasia and Willow Ridge.  He has now started his third major project and is grateful to be able to work and to follow a career he enjoys and finds rewarding. Although Jaco travels over an hour and a half on a bus to work every day he is positive. Jaco is living up to his parent’s expectations and fulfilling his own dreams.



In a reflective state of mind, our group discovered that when there's passion for something anything is possible. A positive mindset is one of the most powerful tools anyone could possess and this is shown through Jaco's actions around the work environment. This has lead to our group deciding that we are all going to begin thinking  and acting in a more positive way and we are confident it will be beneficial in our daily lives. Jaco has showed us what passion can do and he is a role model for all the people who are lucky enough to have heard his story. He is a kind and thoughtful person and loves what he does but more importantly how he can share this.  He enjoys witnessing his accomplishments and sharing his story with others. Jaco has a future, a future that is full of promise. Thembisile.