A 93% aggregate with 9 distinctions. That was what it took to get into the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine as a female South African of Indian descent. I got a R20 000 discount for my first year of medical school and my father paid every cent in full for the subsequent five years.
My father is also a South African of Indian descent. He lived in a one-bedroomed home with his five siblings and parents.