This was Nina Burger’s first memory of Curro. She remembers the opening very clearly: ‘It was a hot day in January. We all sat on white chairs packed in neat rows in front of the building, waiting for Dr Chris to fly over in an airplane to take photos of the school which he built. It took a while, but with that done, the opening speech was delivered and we were ready to embark on our formal school careers.’

Today Nina is working in England as a community physiotherapist for the National Health Service (NHS), where she is also a frontline worker during the COVID-19 pandemic. She looks back on her time at Curro with very fond memories.

The year 2000 was one of many firsts for her in ‘big’ school. ‘We had athletics day, we had a concert, Differdoofer School, we sang choir, we had a camp-out at school, we had fun days and so much more. This, in essence, was my experience at Curro for twelve years … a time of many firsts and many opportunities which I would not have experienced if I did not attend Curro.’

Her experience at Curro was a positive one from start to finish, with some downs as well, but the good memories mostly stuck. ‘Mom became very involved with Curro and as a result, Curro became our family, friend, place of learning, place of fun, place of opportunities and place of work. Curro encouraged, Curro supported, Curro taught and I can say with certainty that Curro was hugely responsible for moulding me into the person I am today.’

According to Nina she was not always the best in her class, but a trait her mom taught her is to never stop trying. She worked hard from start to finish, achieved some goals, but also missed some. At the end of 2011, she completed her school career at Curro Durbanville as a Grade 12 learner and achieved her greatest goal, third place in the Grade for that year.

In 2014 Nina started to study physiotherapy, with a successful outcome of summa cum laude at the end of 2017 and she was awarded best student in her class. ‘Although studies were difficult and required hard work, I felt equipped and empowered. Curro switched to IEB at the beginning of 2009 and our Grade was the first to prepare for the IEB Grade 12 exam. This way of learning most certainly made a difference in the way I approached tertiary education,’ Nina explains.

During July 2018 Nina decided to broaden her horizons and to move to London in January 2019. ‘Preparation for my move and the search for employment started immediately and I was fortunate to be offered a position as a community physiotherapist for the NHS from February 2019 as my first formal job.’

She and her two rescue dogs, one from Khayelitsha and one from Tulbagh, now happily live in London.

‘Moving to London has not been an easy transition, but future prospects are exciting. I am firstly firmly establishing myself as a professional physiotherapist, building up a stable employment record, and then travelling the world is planned. At some stage, I would also like to further my studies to embark on veterinary physiotherapy.’

Who knows what the future holds, but with hard work and perseverance, she (and we) anticipate great things.