I was living in survival mode when I was young. I'm now trying to teach the people to live in a mentality that they can be whatever they want to be even though the situation around them is hopeless.
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SK
Siya Kolisi
South Africa international rugby union flanker and captain
South Africa · b. 1991
Sport
About
Became the first black captain of the South Africa men's rugby team in 2018 and led the Springboks to Rugby World Cup victories in 2019 and 2023. He grew up in the township of Zwide in Port Elizabeth and published a memoir, Rise, in 2021.
4 answers
Recorded · On the billboard
To be remembered for all the things that you do and as someone who makes people smile, touches people's lives – that is what should wake you up every single morning.
It went past being hungry; it was actually painful in your stomach. I could feel my intestines twisting in the middle of the night. I would scream to my grandmother and she would get me sugar water and it would settle it down. A lot of my values come from being resilient. The people from my community might be poor financially but they are happy, proud and resilient people.
I think I wouldn't have made it if I didn't go through those struggles but that still doesn't make it right for kids to have to go through the past that I went through.
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