THREE CHEERS FOR TAKUNDA!

She's had to deal with many health challenges due to a rare condition, but this teenager was determined to ace her matric exams – and she did just that!

- BY ALULUTHO GUZANA

THE wheelchair is always there, and the challenges are constant.

Some days her whole body aches, other days her muscles are so weak that her body simply refuses to cooperate with anything she wants it to do.

It would have been easy for Takunda Muchuweni to give up and just say, 'This isn't fair, I can't do this'.

And few would have blamed her.

Many teenagers faced with what she’s had to deal with – a body that doesn't work, a rare condition that keeps dragging her down, classmates moving forward while she's stuck in bed fighting yet another chest infection – might have thrown in the towel ages ago.

But not Takunda.

Her body might not play along but her mind is as sharp as a razor – and when she gets an idea in her head, she's like a dog with a bone.

She wanted to do well in matric and so she did – although she outdid even her own expectations.

The 18-year-old from Kuils River in Cape Town knocked it out of the park, scoring seven distinctions and becoming one of the country's top achievers.

The official 'title' awarded to her was SA's best student in the category Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN), which she received at a ceremony in Johannesburg.

It's a few days after the announcement of the matric results when YOU catches up with her at Thibault Inclusive Play Park in Brackenfell.

She and her family love coming to the park because it's built for people with disabilities and she would often head here to unwind during her high school years at Jan Kriel, a special-needs school in Kuils River.

When we meet her she’s still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she scored distinctions in all her subjects: maths literacy, business studies, English, Afrikaans, life sciences, tourism and life orientation.

“I knew I'd passed but I didn't expect to be a top achiever,” she says.