He grew up in a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal, sleeping on the kitchen floor of a two-roomed mud house, along with his three siblings. Neurosurgeon Dr Zwelithini Mpungana says his impoverished start in life didn’t hold him back. | YouMagazine
Dr Zwelithini Mpungana had a tough upbringing. His mom was blind and his dad was unemployed.
He grew up in a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal, sleeping on the kitchen floor of a two-roomed mud house, along with his three siblings. There were no doctors in those parts at that time and he certainly had no idea what a neurosurgeon was. Now, Dr Zwelithini Mpungana is very much aware of what neurosurgery entails – he’s a highly specialised spinal neurosurgeon and his rise to the top of his profession is nothing short of inspirational. We’re chatting to Zwelithini via a videolink from the Life Beacon Bay Hospital in East London, where he’s recently settled. It’s a far cry from his childhood village.
“We were poor, but we never felt like it,” the 40-year-old says of those days. “We didn’t have lunch to take with us to school. The only shoes we had were our school shoes, which we took off once we got home and walked around barefoot. It was fine because the other kids were also barefoot. It was a happy childhood and I loved growing up there.”Get 14 days free to read all our investigative and in-depth journalism. Thereafter you will be billed R75 per month.
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