Anita Engelbrecht never thought she would be a member of the Bellville Athletics Club.
However, this Stellenbosch University (SU) student who suffers from spastic diplegia and who has been in a wheelchair all her life had to be a registered member of an athletics club to take part in the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday 20 September. She sat in a specially designed buggy while fellow club member Hilton Murray pushed her all the way.
"It was amazing," Anita said afterwards. Hilton, who once completed ten ultramarathons in ten days in aid of charity, was a pace setter for the sub-5 hour 'bus' and they completed the 42 km race in 4 hours 55 minutes.
Anita participated in the Cape Town marathon to raise awareness for the Chaeli Campaign and Pink Drive. And because she likes to push boundaries. Because magic happens when you move out of your comfort zone, she believes.
She was born prematurely and experienced an oxygen shortage shortly after her birth. The part of her brain that controls the development of motor functions was affected and this caused the spastic diplegia.
"It's a miracle that I'm sitting here," she says. And she believes there is a reason why her heart started beating again.
In 2012 Anita matriculated from Bellville High School with five distinctions, resulting in her being honoured by the Western Cape Education Department for her academic achievements and determination.
At the beginning of the following year she arrived at SU's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences to study Accounting. After her first meeting with representatives of the faculty she knew she was in the right place.
"It was clear to me from the start that my success on all levels is very important to them," she explains. "There has never been a problem too big to handle."
However, this doesn't mean there are no challenges. Anita needs the help of a scribe during exams because, as she explains, "her writing speed is that of a snail". To make things even more difficult she can only see out of one eye at a time. And her brain decides which one without her being able to control it. This makes it very difficult to read and she doesn't have time to review study material two or three times. She needs to take it all in during the first (and only) time.
At the end of her first year she met with her lecturer who asked her whether she really wanted to be a chartered accountant. This would mean that she would have to go to clients without knowing if the environment is wheelchair-friendly.
"And it would probably damage my professional image if my clients had to carry me around," she jokes.
With the bigger picture in mind they decided together that she would change her course to Management Accounting and it seems to have been the right move.
"I did very well in my second year and my marks were a better reflection of the effort I put in."
The change of degree added an extra year to her study plans but Anita believes this is a blessing in disguise because now she will be able to focus on her two main subjects next year with the aim of earning access to postgraduate studies.
"Sometimes I have to decide between what I want to do versus what is practically possible. I don't regard it as a failure that I had to change my course. If I don't try things I will always wonder about them."
She is currently a resident of Huis Russel Botman and enjoys living on campus. A personal assistant helps her with practical tasks such as getting dressed.
She loves reaching out to people and often leaves for class with ten minutes to spare so that she has time to stop and chat along the way. She also enjoys having motivational conversations (she is a mentor in her private student organisation Aristea). She tells people three things: "You have to make a choice about what you want to do in life. Then you need to be brave enough to follow through. And most importantly, never give up.
"Live is not about what you can't do. It's about what you do with what you have. I'm busy with a spiritual Comrades and the way in which God challenges us is fantastic. He is more interested in your spiritual growth than your comfort," she says.
"I don't want to pretend that everything is wonderful and that I never ask: Why me? To tell you the truth, sometimes I find my situation horrible," she admits. "But if someone gave me the option of choosing a life, I would choose my own without a doubt.
"It's better to seem broken from the outside and be whole on the inside that looking whole from the outside and being broken on the inside. I am not a prisoner of this wheelchair. In fact, it gives me wings to be the person I want to be."
Photo: Hilton Murray and Anita Engelbrecht at the Moore Stephens night race in Stellenbosch last Wednesday.
