Bakae tells his story in IM POSSIBLE

Twenty year-old Bongani Bakae is an inspiring young man.He has told his life-changing journey through his first book titled IM POSSIBLE. Until you read the book, you will understand its title.

Growing up in a family faced with one challenge after another, his daily struggles inspired him to reach for his dreams, a feat that not many people could achieve. A first born in a family of four, the now third year student studying for his Doctorate Degree in Pharmacy at the Peoples Friendship University of Russia, says from birth, the odds were stacked against him.

His mother, worked as a maid and his upbringing was not an easy one. But in the midst of it all, the young man used the circumstances that he found himself in to shape a better future for his life. Listening to his story, you can instinctively tell that Bakae is a fighter, and that it can serve as a life lesson. Reading through the book and seeing what he went through, you will eventually realise that life for him was not very easy.

He almost gave up on one or two occasions including a sad encounter with some rowdy schoolmates who undressed him in front of the whole school, exposing his last threads of what he called underwear. Turned into a laughing stock, he eventually found the courage to come back and get revenge on those who only saw him as nothing but the son of a maid.

One thing that many can take from this book especially those who might be in similar situations is that books and education can be a way out of some unfortunate circumstances. Interestingly, Bakae had always known that he was meant for big things in life. In one of his school lessons, he informed his classmates that he saw himself in Europe attending one of the best universities in the world.

And those who might have doubted that he would do that are eating dust. His BGCSE scores saw him being ranked amongst the best students in the country. He had scored 48 points at Naledi Senior. Today, he wants to own his very own Pharmaceutical firm, making pills. Although his grandmother, who raised him for the most part of his life didn’t live long enough to see this flower blossoming, she is certainly looking down from heaven and smiling at the leader that Bakae would grow up to be.

Speaking in an interview with Vibe, he explains that he began writing the book in 2013. “The book was inspired by my life story and my upbringing. I took the lessons that I learnt over the years and put it into this book,” he explains. Bakae is presently home for his vacation and he is promoting the book. He says that the story is about a young boy who comes from a poor family and through the challenges that he faced saw light at the end of the tunnel.
“My background made me want to be a better person.

It also made me realise that our background should not deter us from reaching our goals,” says Bakae. “In a way, my background was a blessing in disguise,” he adds. He wrote the book on his own and it went through the hands of one of his mentors, South African author Roche Mamabolo. The duo met in 2013 at a Children Entrepreneurship camp. The participants were tasked with writing an essay and Mamabolo fell in love with what Bakae wrote. One of his challenges while writing the book was his demanding schedule at school, and on some days he would lack motivation and then on other days, ideas would start rolling while he was busy in class.

“The book is a narrative story, with me pausing every now and then and putting my opinion in,” he says. He also says that readers have warmly welcomed the book, and that they can’t wait for the next book which is already in production. “The manuscript is done and in this book, I am telling the world about Africa, with the hope that they might see it differently,” he explains.