Being a young mother doesn’t need to stop your career plans, says Samantha Morris, 30, the principal of Selwyn ECD centre in Vrygrond.
Ms Morris spoke to teenage moms earlier this month, at a Women’s Day event at Where Rainbows Meet, a non-profit organisation in Vrygrond.
She says she always dreamed of being a teacher, and, after matric, she volunteered as an assistant teacher at Selwyn ECD centre, a learning programme set up by Where Rainbows Meet.
She studied from 2012 to 2013 at False Bay College to qualify as a Grade R teacher, and, soon after she started teaching at the Selwyn ECD centre, she was appointed as the principal.
At 23, she fell pregnant with her first child, but she says motherhood did not keep her back from studying and doing the job she loved.
“Although I was a young mom, I still strived for a better life. Today I am married with a second child.”
Asked what her advice is for other young mothers, she says: “Don’t limit yourselves, and don’t think that you can’t go further in life. You can actually use that time to up-skill yourself and follow your dreams.”